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"V 



COMMENTARIES 



ON 



<7% 



CLASSICAL LEARNING, 



BY 



The Rev. D. H. URQUHART, M. A. 

PREBENDARY OF LINCOLN, 
&c. &c. 



* f Claffical ftudies extend the boundaries of human knowledge, and 
open fuch a new field of inquiry and obfervation as lead mankind 
to a perfect acquaintance with the powers of the mind, with the 
beauties of poetry, the ufeiulnefs oi hiftory, and the wifdoni of 
philofophy." 



LONDON: 

PRINTED FOR T. CADELL AND W. DAVIES, STRAND. 

i8oq. 






Printed by A. Strahan, 
PnntejvMrttt. 



TO 

THE RIGHT REVEREND 

GEORGE PRETTMAN, 

LORD BISHOP OF LINCOLN. 



MY LORD, 

I fhould not have afked permiffion 
to infcribe this volume to your Lord- 
{hip, had I not been perfuaded, that 
both its motive and its object would 
obtain your approbation. 

At a time, when human learn- 
ing is loudly decried by the igno- 
rant fanatic, I allured myfelf that 
its humbled advocate would be fe- 

cure 



( iv ) 

cure of the countenance of a dif- 
tinguifhed Scholar. 

In the concluding fe&ion of this 
work, prefuming on the continuance 
of public tranquillity, I ventured to 
recommend the patronage of litera- 
ture to our rulers. But, alas ! that 
flattering profpedt feems now to 
have vanifhed from our view* Still, 
though it be the lucklefs condition 
of fociety, that, amidft the din of 
arms, the ingenuous arts are ne- 
glected j your Lord ihip will allow, 
tnat, as learning always offers a 
temporary afylum from the ills of 
life, it frequently invites us to turn 
our eyes from the horrors of war 
to the contemplation of objeds, 
which afford confolation, infrac- 
tion, 



c 



) 



tion, and delight. The man of 
letters finds alfo another powerful 
argument to ftimulate him in his 
favourite purfuit. r^paj-xsw hUwopsvog, 
is the ardent wifh of every mind 
which has been improved by early 
culture, and is actuated by laudable 
emulation. 

I have the Honor to be 
Your Lordfhip's 

refpedtful and obliged fcrvant, 



D. H. URQUHL^RT, 



ADVERTISEMENT 



TO THE 



READER. 



It is right to apprize the reader, that 

fome of the quotations in this volume were 
made from memory, and that the name of 
the author did not always occur. 

Some paffages from Pope are fo well 
known, as to render it unneceflary to men- 
tion his name at the end of each. 

It is however proper to fay, that the ar- 
rangement of the Greek and Latin writers 
was formed on the model of Monfieur La 
Harpe's ingenious work, and that his fen- 
timents frequently appear in thefe Com- 
mentaries. 

An apology for fo large a table of Errata 
muft be derived from a dangerous illnefs» 
which difabled the author, during the 
greater part of the time, from accurately 
correcting the Prefs. 

a a 



CONTENTS. 



\ SECTION I. 

fJ N the general Advantages of ClaJJical Learnings anion 

its particular Advantages to the Lawyer — the Phy* 

Jinan—the Divine-— to the Naval and Military Officer 

—the State/man — the Poet— the Painter— 'the Sculp' 

tor— the Mufician— and the Merchant, Page I 

SECTION II. 

On the Epie Poets of Greece— Homer, Hejiod, Apollonius 
Rhodius, - - - - 67 

SECTION III. 

Lyric Poetry, Linus, Orpheus, Mufxus, Stefichorus, 
Sappho, Simonidesy Anacreon, Pindar, - 1 00 

SECTION IV. 

Greek Tragedy. Thefpis, JEfchyluSy Sophocles, EuripU 
des, - - - 124 



SECTION V. 

On Greek Comedy, the old, the middle, and the new^ 
Ariflophanes, Menander, and many Writers, of whom 
only Fragments are extant, -» - . k? 

8* 



( x ) 

SECTION VI. 

Pajloral Poetry . — Epig ram . — Theocritus.— Bion. — Mof- 
chus.—Anthologia, - - Page 185 

SECTION VII. 

On Grecian Oratory, Pericles ; Lyfias, Ifocrates, Hype* 
rides, Ifaus y JEf chines ,DemoJlhenes, - - 192 

SECTION VIII. 

On the Grecian Hijlorians. — Cadmus. — Hecataus. — He* 
rodotus. — Thucidydes. — Xenophon. — Polybius, — Dio~ 
dorus Siculus. — Dionyjtus of Halicarnajjus . — Appian. 
-—Arian. — Dion Cajfius. — Herodian, - 226 

SECTION IX. 

Plutarch, - - - 279 

SECTION X. 

Grecian Satire, - - - - 287 

SECTION XL 

On Roman Literature. — The Drama. — Comedy.— Livius 
Andronicus. — Ennius. — Plautus.— Cacilius. *— Terence. 
—Pantomime, - 293 

SECTION XII. 

Roman Tragedy.— Pacuvius. — Accius.—Varius.—Ovid. 
Seneca, - * - - 3 tl 



( xi ) 

SECTION XII. 

Roman Satire, — En?iius.—Lucilius.—-Varro. — Horace*— 
Juvenal. — Perfius y - - Page 331 

SECTION XIII. 

Latin Epic Poetry. — Lucretius*— VirgiL— -Ovid.— ~ Lu- 
ean.—Silius Italicus. — Valerius Flaccus. — Statins , 

362 

SECTION XIV. 

Latin Elegy. Ovid. — Catullus. — -Tibullus* — Propertius % 

415 

SECTION XV. 

Martial. — Aufonius. — Claudian y - - 426 

SECTION XVI. 

Roman Oratory. — The Gracchi. — Cato.— Cicero % 433 

SECTION XVII. 

Roman Moralljls and didaclic Writers.*— Seneca.— - 
ghiintilian.— Pliny the Tcunger, - - 465 

SECTION XVIII. 

Roman Hijlorians. — Julius Cafar. — Sallujl. — Livy.—* 
Tacitus. — ^uintus Curtius % - * 495 



( xii ) 

SECTION XIX. 

Latin Hiftorians of 'the fecond Clafs, — Tragus Pompeius — 
Jujlin. — ~ Florus. — Velleius Pater cuius.—* Cornelius 
Nepos. — Suetonius, - - Page 526 

SECTION XX. 

Conclu/ion, - - - - - 535 



COM. 



COMMENTARIES 



ON 



CLASSICAL LEARNING^ 



SECTION I. 

On the general Advantages of ClaJJical Learning, and on. 

its particular Advantages to the Lawyer — the Phy- 

Jician-—the Divine-— to the Naval and Military Officer 

—'the State/man — the Poet — the Painter*— the Sculp* 

tor —the Mufician—and the Merchant. 



I hat the cultivation of the mental powers 
is amongft the higheft objects "which can 
engage human attention, ieems to be one of 
thofe propofitions that demand and receive 
a general aflent. 

In every civilized age and country, the 

laborious and fuccefsful enquirer after ufeful 

b knowledge 



8 COMMENTARIES ON 

knowledge has either been diftinguifhed by 
the praifes of his contemporaries, or duly 
appreciated by the jufter decifion of pof- 
terity. It is therefore not the leaft grateful 
of our fpeeulative employments, to mark 
the progreffive gradations of mankind from 
a ftate of ignorance and barbarifm, to one 
of elegance and refinement. 

In fuch refearches our felf-love is grati* 
fied, and our patriotifm is warmed by the 
refle&ion that we are inhabitants of a 
country where art has embellifhed life, and 
fcience enlightened the mind y where a fpirit 
of liberty which vindicates our civil rights^ 
is, in a certain degree, the refult of that 
liberal information which has taught us to> 
know their value. 

If the intelle&ual faculties be the highcll 
boon which the Deity has bellowed on the 
moft favored work of his creation, the 
honor of the individual, and the interefts 
of fociety, depend upon the* improvement 
of them. That a ftate of nature is a ftate 
ii of 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 3 

of \var, hiftory and experience combine to 
atteft ; and though a fenfe of the infecurity 
of fuch a ftate induced mankind to form a 
focial compact, its firft elements were but 
an indigefted chaos^ nor, until the mental 
faculties had been improved, were they 
ever duly difpofed in order arid in har- 
mony. This becomes evident whenever 
we recur to thofe Gothic ages anterior to 
the cafual invention of that ufeful art, which 
like the birth-place of Homer, has been fo 
ftrenuoufly contefted. The annals of thofe 
early times reflect no pleafing images on 
the memory* Affimilated in roughnefs to 
their brethren of the foreft, the Aborigines 
of our ifle difplayed none of the higher 
energies of the mind. The hut of the 
favage was little fuperior to the den of the 
wild beaft, and the ardor of the fportfman. 
was analogous to the ferocity of his prey. 

Our country was long difgraced by in- 

teftine difcord and by domeftic cruelty. A 

feeble monarch now furrendered the rights 

he ought to have maintained, an ufurper 

B 2 waded 



4 COMMENTARIES Otf 

waded through murder to the throne, a 
tyrannous ariftocracy attacked the regal 
privileges, and a bigoted priefthood fettered 
the rights of a vaflal people. 

The revival of learning by enlightening 
the mind, and exciting habits of reflection, 
rendered men better adepts in the fcience 
of government, and taught them to doubt 
the purity of the national religion. Error 
will not ftand the teft of enquiry. Both 
were at length happily reformed : the fet- 
ters were taken from genius, and tafte, that 
refined quality which difcriminates excel- 
Jence, began to diftinguifh the candidates 
for literary fame. The mind of man, natur- 
ally inquifitive, and eager to difcover the 
fources from which knowledge was origi- 
nally derived, is dire&ed to two countries 
as the parents x>f every thing valuable and 
ornamental in fcience. Their precious 
relics at firft cafually found, and now 
happily fecured from farther ruin, ought 
to be explored and venerated by almoft all 
defcriptions in fociety, becaulc every man 
q who 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. ? 

who is placed above the neceffity of manual 
labour, would find the higheft utility and 
the moft exquifite pleafure to be the reward 
of his refearches. That which is emphati- 
cally ftyled Claffical Learning, the works 
of the poets, orators, and hiftorians of 
Greece and Rome, contains every thing 
that can awaken the genius and improve 
the tafte. Perfect models of both are ex- 
hibited in their epic, lyric, and dramatic 
writers, while their orators and hiftorians 
produce the moft ftriking examples of a 
difdain of the felfifh paffions, and that 
generous ardour for the public good which 
conftitutes unfufpe&ed patriotifm. 

That our parents and children are dear 
to us is the voice of nature; and where 
cuftom has not hardened the mind, a favage 
will obey its dictates. But ages of refine- 
ment alone could inform us, that the 
patriot acknowledges a higher object of his 
regard, and that the claims which our kin- 
dred have upon our affections are fubordi- 
nate to the claims of our country, 

b 3 «* Can 



6 COMMENTARIES ON 

" Cari fiint parentes, cari liberi, feci 
omnes omnium caritates cornplexa eft pa- 



tria." 



It appears no difficult talk to point out 
the advantages of Claffical Learning in all 
confiderable fituations of life^ Ample in- 
deed is the range of knowledge which 
expands itfelf to the view of the jurifpru- 
dent. He fhould be enabled by laborious 
ftudy, to deduce the principles of natural 
and politic law from the nature and the 
ftate of man; to difcern that what is juft 
and unjuft has been notified to us by the 
principles of moral inftincT: ; to trace civil 
fociety to its original formation ; to obferve 
how it has been refolved by the genius of a 
people into the democratic, ariftocratic, or 
monarchical form of government. He 
ought to be thoroughly acquainted with 
the difference in their leading principles, 
to mark the confequences which refult from 
thence to their civil and criminal code, to 
the form of their judgments, and the in- 
fliction of their punifhments. It behoves 

him 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 7 

him to know what it is that determines the 
purity of well conftituted ftates, and the 
caufes which lead to their corruption ; to 
perceive how the fmallefl deviation from 
their original principles is attended with a 
ferious injury, while if thofe be firmly 
maintained, a change often becomes an 
amendment ; to enquire in what manner 
the various forms of government provide 
for their fafety by defenfive, or attempt 
their aggrandifement by offenfive opera- 
tions ; and above all, to inveftigate the laws 
that guard political liberty and human hap- 
pinefs. 



But to accomplifh the Englifh lawyer, 
it certainly is not fufficient that he be per- 
fectly acquainted with the oral cuftoms and 
the written laws of his own country. The 
profeflbr of a liberal fcience will beft know 
how to appreciate them, if he has contem- 
plated the wifdom of ancient legiflators in 
the mirror of their inftitutions. The laws 
of Draco, Solon, and Lycurgus, will in- 
form him of the manners of the times 
£4 and 



8 COMMENTARIES ON 

and the vices of the Athenian and Spartan 
people. They will enable him to trace the 
aberrations of the human heart in the pu- 
nifhments denounced againft crimes, and 
thoroughly to learn the nature and the 
hiftory of his fpecies. Without facrificing 
our Alfred and Edward." to the manes of 
Theodofius and Juftinian," he will derive 
no fmall pleafure and utility from obferving 
what laws the matters of the ancient world 
borrowed from the nation they fubdued ; 
and, while he marks their progrefs from 
Simplicity to refinement, and from refine- 
ment to corruption, he will confefs that an 
acquaintance with the inftitutions of Greece 
and Rome, is more than ornamental to the 
Englifli lawyer. Numerous examples to 
evince this truth might be found upon the 
bench and at the bar ; but as the compari- 
fon of living chara&ers is fometimes invi- 
dious, the praife of them is not always 
unfufpe&ed. But the author of the Com- 
mentaries of the Laws of England is a 
fplendid inftance of the efficacy of claffical 
learning. In his immortal work, the luci- 

dus 



CLASSICAL LEARNING, 



9 



dus ordo and the copia verborum are fo 
happily combined, that while every pro- 
feffional man may trace the country in 
which he is to travel, every man of tafte 
beholds its beauties with admiration. 

And here indeed the queftion might 
fairly reft, did not recollection point alfo 
to that accomplifhed fcholar who fo long 
and fo ably prefided over the higheft court 
of law in this country. Of whom alas ! 
the poet's prediction is verified : 

" For Murray, long enough his country's pride, 
iS Is now no more than Tully or than Hyde." 



Claffical learning feems to be indifpenfi- 
bly requiiite to gentlemen of the medical 
profeffion. The very terms of their art 
are borrowed from the Greeks, and to their 
works they are excited to apply by the moil 
laudable motives, an ardor after knowledge, 
and a veneration for excellence. It mull 
gratify them to obferve the marked pre- 
eminence which Homer gives to the phy- 
fician, at a time when valour was efteemed 

above 



TO COMMENTARIES ON 

above all other qualities, and fynonimous 
with virtue itfelf. 

'Ivjjpcg yct$ uvqp ttoWmv ocfja,^iog aWoov. 

In thofe times of fimplicity difeafes were 
few, and chymiftry had made but fmall 
advances towards perfefiion. The man, 
therefore, whofe knowledge of the nature 
of fimples could teach him how to mitU 
gate the anguifh of a wound, was juftly 
efteemed during the Trojan war as of fur* 
palling dignity and worth. 

We are taught by the ancient mythology 
that iEfculapius was the god of phyfic, and 
that Hygeia, the goddefs of health, was his 
daughter ; but the more fober and more 
credible page of hiftory informs us, that 
experience was long reforted to before the 
art of medicine was converted into a fcience. 
The Babylonians obliged themfelves by an 
cxprefs law, to carry their fick into places 
of public refort, and to enquire of all who 
paffed by, whether they ever had felt or 

feea 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. II 

feen any fuch diftemper as the fick perfon 
laboured under, and what was done to 
remove it. The progrefs of phyfic was 
certainly very flow, although Herodotus 
calls this, as it really was, vifiog <ro<po]<£\os 9 a 
moft prudent inftitution, and the beft 
which could be contrived at that time. 

Homer was acquainted with the ^spo- 
xopiMjj or the proper means by which the 
evils of old age may be alleviated. The 
prefcription is given by Ulyfles to his 
father Laertes : 

44 Warm baths, good food, foft fleep, and generous wine, 
°< Thefe are the rights of age, and fhould be thine." 

Pythagoras firft recommended univerfal 
moderation and temperance, and Iccus 
the phyfician of Tarentum, enforced and 
exemplified this precept fo ftrongly, that the 
repaft of Iccus became a proverbial phrafe 
for a plain and temperate meal. 

Hippocrates, juftly ftyled the father of 
phyfic, rendered it fo completely a fcience, 

that 



12 COMMENTARIES ON 

that his defcent, by his father from iEfcuIa- 
pius, and by his mother from Hercules, is 
forgotten in the eulogium which is his due 
as a man of profound learning and unim- 
peached integrity, 

He thought it not fufficient to know the 
effence of particular bodies, but the con- 
stituent principles of the univerfe. En- 
riched with every fpecies of knowledge, he 
enlightened experience by reafoning, and 
he rectified theory by practice. 

The rules he lays down for forming the 
phyfician, are worthy to be engraven in 
letters of gold ; for they exhibit profound 
knowledge, confummate integrity, and. an 
irreproachable life. 

In early times it was affirmed that his 
doctrine, adopted amongft all nations, after 
thoufands of years would ftill continue to 
work thoufands of cures ; that the moft 
extenfive empires would be unable to. dif- 
pute with the little ifland of Cos, the glory 

of 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 



M 



of having produced this man ; and that in 
the eyes of perfons of real wifdom, the 
names of the greateft conquerors would be 
holden in lefs eftimation than that of Hip- 
pocrates. 

Amid ft the many valuable precepts 
which this great legiflator has left, there 
are fome few, at leaft there is one, at which 
the imperfed morality of the divine Plato 
revolts. He cenfures Hippocrates for pro- 
trading the exiftence of weak perfons ; 
being of opinion that an infirm conftitu- 
tion is an obftacle to the pradice of virtue : 
and he adds, that iEfculapius would not 
patch up habitual invalids, left they fhould 
have children as ufelefs as themfelves ; for 
he was perfuaded, that it is an injury both 
to the community and to the infirm perfon 
himfelf, that he fhould continue in the 
world, even though he were richer than 
Midas. 



Surely 



'*4 COMMENTARIES ON 

Surely then we are no longer juftified 
in blaming the Hottentots, who expofe 
their decrepid parents in the woods, when a 
philofopher is found to advife fuch inhuman 
conduit as this ; or to wonder at the cuf- 
torn of the Padaean Indians, of whom 
Herodotus relates, that when any man fell 
fick amongft them, his next neighbour 
killed him immediately. 

A learned phyfician who wrote in the 
middle of the laft century, declares, that 
many of the rules which Hippocrates left, 
although delivered above two thoufand 
years ago, are among the beft we, have 
even at this day; and that the works of 
Galen, who flourifhed in the reign of Mar- 
cus Antoninus, are ftill reforted to as the 
bafis and the model of all that has been 
advanced, ever fince his time, on the im- 
portant fubje&s which he treats. 

To fuppofe then the modern phyfician 
either ignorant of his art as praitifed by 

th$ 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. J£ 

the ancients, or of the language which has 
tranfmitted it to pofterity, would be a 
folecifm in times of general information, 
and a difgrace to a liberal profeffion. 

If the labour of learning the Spanifh 
language could be compenfated by the 
pleafure of reading Don Quixote in the 
original, it is better worth the while of the 
phyfician to become acquainted with Thu^ 
cydides, in order to draw much profeffional 
light from the defcription of the plague 
which defolated Athens, 

The empiric trufts to pra&ice only, and 
the credulity of the multitude, for the efta- 
blifhment of his undeferved reputation ; 
but the regular phyfician founds his prac- 
tice on the bafis of theory, and ftill ac- 
knowledges Hippocrates and Galen to be 
the preceptors and legiflators of his art. 

But technical knowledge however pro- 
found, would be an inadequate accomplifh- 
jment to him 3 for he is expecled to be con- 

verfant 



l6 COMMENTARIES Otf 

verfant with all the departments of inge- 
nuous learning. 

To the fuccefsful practitioner of an art 
in fome degree conjectural, we look with a 
reverence not granted to the world at 
large ; but if his eonverfation be confined 
merely to his profeffion, we withdraw 
much of our refpecl: from fuch narrownefs 
of acquirement. The confidence which 
Alexander repofed in Philip we are unwil- 
ling to beftow on meannefs and on igno- 
rance. In our phyfician we expect to find 
copioufnefs of information, and fuavity of 
manners; and thefe are exclusively the re- 
fult of an ingenuous education. 

It is furely unneceffary to infift that 
claffical learning ought to form a part of 
the education of a clergyman. Subfervient 
as it is to the main object of his purfuit, it 
will always be infeparable from his pro- 
feffional ftudies. No one but a claffical 
fcholar can, properly fpeaking, be a Divine. 

The 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 17 

The oracles of facred truth are beft to be 
underftood in their original language ; and 
the retirement and the leifure incident to 
the clerical character form an imperious 
claim of profound and general information. 



It has been the liberal policy of this 
country, to difFufe a fpecies of learning 
through all the claflfes of fociety. It is its 
bqaft, to enlighten the mind, as well as to 
exercife the hand, of the lower orders. 
The code of their religious duties is ren- 
dered acceffible to all ; nor does it appear 
probable, that the ftriking inftances of 
knowledge perverted to evil will ever clofe 
it to their pofterity. The ranks of fociety 
have been elegantly compared to a pyramid 
rifing from a broad foundation, and di- 
minifhing to a point as it rifes. Not only 
ftation, therefore, but knowledge fhould be 
progreffive, and the degrees of each fhould 
be in exact proportion and harmony with 
the other. To the chriftian teacher all the 
ftores of Pagan antiquity fhould be diC- 
clofed, Hiftory, the mirror of human life, 
c muft 



l8 COMMENTARIES ON 

muft neceflarily be the obje£t of his con- 
templation. To trace the knowledge of a 
Creator from the earlieft ages of the hea- 
then world ; to fee the faint image of a 
Redeemer in the vi&ims and oblations 
which they offered ; to mark the prophe- 
cies of a true religion faintly fhadowed by 
the oracles of thofe which were falfe, im- 
plies no fmall acquaintance with the lan- 
guage and the cuftoms of early times. 

To ihew the Mofaic Hiftory verified by 
the pages of profane learning, and revela- 
tion confirmed by the evidence of perfons 
hoftile to its diffufion, is a talk which re- 
quires no mean proficiency in the works of 
the Claffic Authors. 

To compare the do&rines of chriftianity 
with the tenets of the various fe£ts that 
preceded it, afks an intimate acquaintance 
with the writings of the philosophers of 
Greece and Rome. 



But 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 



*9 



But this fubjecl: is become more interfil- 
ing from the peculiar temper of the times 
in which we live. It is a fentiment 
amongft felf-taught inftruftors, that hu- 
man learning is at leaft ufelefs, if not inju- 
rious to a clergyman ; and the perfon who 
gratifies his own vanity with the notion of 
a partial and celeftial illumination, or im- 
pofes the idle tale on the credulity of others, 
finds his perfonal credit to depend upon the 
removal of that venerable pillar which 
ftrengthens the hallowed edifice of religion. 
The Goths of ignorance are always nume- 
rous and violent, and it will require the 
combined efforts of its fteady friends to 
join in the defence of found claflical 
learning, as intimately connected with the 
fupport of facred truth. 



It is the bufinefs of the pulpit orator, 
like that of every other, partly to convince 
his hearers by argument, and partly to 
allure them by perfuafion. To effecT: this 
purpofe, who of fober judgment will com- 
c 2 P are v 



20 COMMENTARIES ON 

pare the clamorous zeal of the unlettered 
enthufiaft, with the aids which genuine 
piety has received from eloquence, from 
learning, and from tafte, as difplayed in 
the writings of Barrow, of Lowth, and 
of Blair ? 

It may perhaps by fome be doubted if a 
claflical education be compatible with the 
early period at which naval gentlemen 
ufually enter upon their profeffion. This 
involves the queftion, whether the acquisi- 
tion of the dead languages require fo many 
years as are generally allotted to them. 
Under a judicious affiftant, where much is 
required to be done in a little time, much 
might probably be erTe&ed ; and the 
ground-work laid fo firmly and fkilfully, 
as to enable the young proficient to employ 
the intervals of an a&ive life in raifing the 
fuperftruclure. It muft be confeffed that 
his technical knowledge will be little bene- 
fited by an acquaintance with the ancient 
nautical art. The timid navigator, who, as 

yet 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 21 

yet having no compafs to dire£t him, 
rarely ventured to fail at any confiderable 
diftance from the fhore, muft appear only 
an objed: of contempt or companion, at a 
period when naval ta&ics have reached 
perfe&ion. 

In this view of the fubjecT:, no argu- 
ment of utility can be drawn from a fami- 
liarity with the claffics. 

But frequent as the ambition or the 
phrenzy of mankind has rendered the re- 
currence of war, the naval officer is not al- 
ways engaged in atchievements of perfonal 
yalour and in ads of patriot heroifm. 

There are many hours in which he ho~ 
nors the fociety that honors him by his 
prefence and tis converfation, 

In the intervals of peace, and at length 
in the retirement from an arduous fervice, 
mute attention always hangs upon the 
eventful ftory of his life, 

e 3 A 



22 COMMENTARIES ON 

A mind Improved by early culture, and 
manners foftened by as good an education 
as time and circum fiances will allow, are 
required to give dignity and grace to the 
relation of interefting events, and to the 
defcription of other climes. 

It feemed in former times to be the 
falfe pride of the members of this pro- 
feffion, to exhibit an exterior as rough as 
the elements with which they were conver- 
fant 5 but the gentleft courtefy is now found 
to be confiftent with the braveft hearts, and 
wherever the mind has been duly cultiva- 
ted, the gallant defenders of their country 
are at the fame time its brighteft orna- 
ments. 

Gentlemen of the military profef- 
fion may derive much ufeful inform- 
ation from an acquaintance with claf- 
fic authors. 

Long before the monk by a pernicious 
chemiftry had facilitated the art of (laugh- 
ter, 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 



2 3 



ter, ancient ta&ics had made a very confi- 
derable progrefs. From a Greek hiftorian, 
and from a Roman warrior, they may de- 
rive many precepts highly important to 

their art. 

« 

Polybius and Caefar are authors more 
ufeful in the field than in the clofet : they 
have higher attractions for the fcientific 
foldier, than for the cloiftered fcholan The 
valour of our contemporaries, it is true, re- 
quires not to be ftimulated by ancient 
examples ; but the fchoolboy may be train- 
ed to afpire after the character of the hero, 
by contemplating the illuftrious models of 
Greece and Rome, 

He who aims at excellence of any kind, 
is naturally induced to place before his 
eyes, and to obferve as in a mirror, fome 
diftinguifhed pattern of it. 



The military fcholar will equally applaud 

the love of country and the contempt of 

c 4 death. 



24 COMMENTARIES ON 

death, whether exhibited in ancient or in 
modern inftances, and be ready to yield 
his teftimony to that undying record of 
virtue, which equally immortalizes an 
Epaminondas and a Wolfe. 

The knowledge of univerfal hiftory is 
effential to the Statefman. Thoroughly to 
underftand and appreciate the confutation 
of his own country, he rauft be familiarly 
cpnverfant with that both of ancient and 
modern ftates. It behoves him to know 
by what wife regulations they arofe to 
greatnefs and to glory, and by what errors 
in their adminiftration they funk into re- 
proach and ruin. Since four great monar- 
chies, bearing the appearance of impregna- 
ble ftrength and liability, have disappeared 
from public view, and live only in the 
records of the hiftorian, it becomes him, 
by literary refearch, to explore the caufes 
of their decay. He will find it to be the 
eager, but vain defire of man, to ftamp 
immortality upon his works $ and that 

when> 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 



2jT 



when, like father Paul, a patriot defires his 
country to be perpetual, he facrifices the 
di&ate of reafon to the wifhes of his hearty 
the refult of his experience to the ardour of 
his hopes. The hiftory of empires has 
been truly faid to be that of the mifery of 
mankind ; the hiftory of learning, that of 
their grandeur and their happinefs. It is 
not only curious but inftru&ive to follow 
this revolution in the religion, government, 
and manners which have fucceffively defo- 
lated and corrupted the world. The con- 
trail: of the infancy with the grandeur of 
Rome, is worthy the attention of the 
ftatefman. In reading the iEneid of 
Virgil, he will be inftru&ed in all thefe 
points, and cannot fail to be ftruck at 
the comparison of a fmall town covered 
with ftraw, to the fame town become 
the capital of the univerfe, of which " the 
houfes were palaces, the citizens princes, 
and the provinces empires." 



The pages of Tacitus mould be his fre- 
quent and attentive ftudy \ for by reading 

them, 



26 COMMENTARIES ON 

them, he will read mankind. He will 
perceive fcenes of horror acled at Rome 
unexampled but in our own times, and paint- 
ed in colours which will never fade. A fran- 
tic people under the Praetorian bands and 
the German legions, friends to anarchy 
and leagued againft civil government, fum- 
mon his deepeft attention. 

In the manners of the Germans he will 
perceive the origin of the Britifh conftitu- 
tion ; and in the life of Agricola, the day- 
fpring of that liberty which is the boaft of 
Englifhmen, and the wonder of foreign 
ftates. He will fee.that if the Greeks had 
not a fecond time been flaves, the Latins 
would again have been barbarians. Con-* 
ftantinople, it is true, fell beneath the fword 
of Mahomet; but when the Medici re- 
ceived the perfecuted mufes, and Erafmus 
cultivated them, Homer penetrated into 
regions unknown to Alexander, and Horace 
became the delight of countries invincible 
by the Romans. Thofe ages of reviving 
wifdom found that it was excellent to 

perufe 



CLASSICAL LEARNING, 



2 7 



perufe the ancients, and to admire them. 
The warrior read them in his tent, and the 
ftatefman ftudied them in his clofet. The 
keen eye of Grotius pierced through the 
veil of antiquity. By its light he read 
the oracles of facred truth, with whofe 
powerful weapons he combated fuperfti- 
tion and ignorance, and with whofe amiable 
precepts he foftened the rigours of war. 
A retrofpect of paft times will perhaps 
tend to render the ftatefman not only the 
lover of literature, but the public and 
avowed patron of learned men. When 
aflailed by the war-whoop of enthu- 
fiafm againft profane learning, his mind, 
foaring to a nobler height and taking 
a wider furvey of things, will perceive that 
when found learning flourifhes, and good 
tafte prevails, the maintenance of focial 
order and legitimate government is recog- 
nized amidft his higheft duties by the en«» 
lightened citizen. 



It has been contended that a poet is born 
and not made, and the declarations of a 

Roman 



28 COMMENTARIES ON 

Roman and a Britifh bard are adduced in 
favor of this hypothefis. But neither Ovid 
nor Pope would have afferted that he was 
not indebted to the great models he had 
before him, for many of his pretenfions to 
poetical reputation. The two epic poets 
amongft the ancients, whofe works have 
immortalized their names, befides the con- 
current advantages refulting from the cli- 
mate of the countries, and the Hate of the 
times in which they lived, were poflefled 
of all the learning then in the world. No 
one can doubt this affertion refpe&ing the 
friend of Auguftus; and a little inquiry 
will fatisfy us as to the acquired knowledge 
of Homer. Homer was educated by Phe- 
mius, one of the bards probably whofe 
public recitations contained and conveyed 
all the learning of thofe early times. To 
his office was attached a dignity of which 
the moderns can form a very inadequate 
conception, 



m 



CLASSICAL LEARNING, 



2 9 



He charmed the ears of a fimple age by 
the fpontaneous effufions of unwritten and 
harmonious verfe; he inftru&ed them in 
the hiftory of their progenitors ; he enter- 
tained them with agreeable allegory and 
fable ; and, while he aftonifhed them with 
finging the harmony of the univerfe and 
the viciflitudes of nature, he profefled to be 
under the immediate direction of the gods. 
Though he could not boaft of wealth or 
power, his fituation was always attended 
with eafe and honor. He was well re- 
ceived at the courts of kings, neceflfary at 
facrifices, and reverenced by the people. 



At that period, the philofopher, the 
divine, and the legiflator were all united in 
the fame perfon : fuch was Orpheus and his 
fcholar Mufseus ; and all the ancient law- 
givers employed the mufes to difpenfe 
their xnfiruaions and recommend their 
morals. 

In fuch a fchooi was Homer taught. 

He was firft placed in the houfe of his 

1 3 matter 



30 COMMENTARIES Ott 

matter to be inftrudted in poetry and phi- 
lofophy, and he afterwards fucceeded him 
in his office. 

There were poems in exiftence before 
the Trojan war ; and in allegory and fable, 
Homer found many cejebrated models 
worthy of his imitation. Partly from ftudy 
and partly from travel, he had become 
learned in all the wifdom of Egypt, and 
acquainted with all the arts of Phoenicia. 
His poverty as a man conftituted no fmall 
part of his happinefs as a poet; for when 
he affumed the profeffion of a ftrolling bard, 
he difplayed the higheft effort of his de- 
lightful art. When the council of the 
Amphi&yons were met at Delphi to con- 
fult on the general welfare of Greece, his 
hymn to Apollo and Diana expreffes the 
felicity attendant on his fituation. tc Hai!, 
heavenly powers, whofe praifesl fing," fays 
the bard, " let me alfo hope to be remem- 
bered in the ages to come ! And when any 
one born of the tribes of man comes hither 

5 weary 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 



3* 



a weary traveller, and inquires who is the 
fweeteft of the finging men that refort to 
your feafts, and whom you mod delight to 
hear ? then do you make anfwer for me, 
It is the blind man that dwells in Chios ; 
his fongs excell all that can be fung." 

At the Pythian games the public a&ors 
were the rhapfodifts; and it was long before 
the mufcular could vie with the mental, be- 
fore horfe racing and wreftling made part of 
the entertainment. Although Euftathius fays 
of Homer, that he breathed nothing but 
verfe, and was fo poffefTed with the heroic 
mufe as to fpeak in numbers with more 
eafe than others in profe ; .yet no infpira- 
tion can account for his being a great 
genealogift, a correct hiftorian, and an 
admirable geographer. From Orpheus and 
Mufasus he is laid to have borrowed largely : 
nor was he the author of the Polytheifm 
of the Iliad, or the inventor of its religious 
and philofophical allegories, but recorded 
them as he received them from the Egyp- 
tians. 



**2 COMMENTARIES ON 

tians. In addition, therefore, to the ad- 
vantage of living at a period of fociety, 
when he could from obfervation delineate 
the varieties of the human character, kings, 
princes, warriors, artifans and peafants ; 
when his mind had been expanded, and 
his views enlarged by* foreign travel, he 
fearched diligently every avenue to fcience, 
and verified the aflertion I have made, that 
he poflefled himfelf all the learning then in 
the world. 

Horace propofes the queftion refpecting 
the fuperior advantage of genius and learn- 
ing to a poet, and determines them to be 
equally neceffary to the perfection of his art; 

" Ego nee iludium fine divite vena, 
. tf Nee rude quid profit video ingenium : alterius fie 
" Altera pofeft opem res, et conjurat amice.*'. 

It would be fuperfluous to bring any 
argument to prove how much the epic poet 
of our own country was indebted to claf- 
fical learning ; for this is evident on the 
flighted perufal of his works. In what 

fublime 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 



33 



fublime drains does he acknowledge his 
obligation to the foftering nurfe of ancient 
literature. 

" Behold! 
Where on the iEgean more a city Hands 
Built nobly, pure the air, and light the foil, 
Athens, the eye of Greece, mother of arts j 
And eloquence, native to famous wits 
Or hofpitable, in her fweet recefs, 
City or fuburban, fludious walks and mades." 

In this country we have had many in- 
ftances of poets who could not boaft of a 
literary education ; and however we may 
admire the effufions of untutored enthu- 
fiafm, it is impoffible to contend with fuo 
cefs, that their wood-notes wild would not 
have been improved by culture and an 
acquaintance with the works of the an- 
cients, thofe archetypes of genius, thofe 
repofitaries of learning, thofe models of 
fine writing, and perpetual ftandards of 
good tafte. 



Not only a contemplation of the works 
of art, but an acquaintance with the writ- 

D ings 



34 COMMENTARIES ON 

ings of the ancients is effential to the painter. 
Their animated defcriptions, and the pre- 
cious relics, unfortunately too few, which 
have come down to pofterity, compel him 
to deplore the ravages which time and vio- 
lence have made upon the graphic art. He 
perceives, however, that Greece was the 
unrivalled arbiter of form, that the minds 
of the Greeks were elevated with the notion 
of a celeftial origin, that their {hapes were 
moulded by a mild and genial climate, and 
their fpirits animated by the nature of their 
civil polity. It has been elegantly faid that 
in the infancy of Grecian art, the Graces 
rocked the cradle, and Love taught it to 
fpeak. 

The ftory of the Corinthian maid who 
fhadowed the figure of her lover by lamp- 
light on a wall, may perhaps be only a 
legendary tale; but by appealing to our 
fympathy, it feems almoft to deferve our 
belief. To the modern painter the account 
of the origin and progrefs of his art fhould 
unqueftionably be familiar. Reynolds and 

Fufeli 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 



35 



Fufcli have delighted to trace it from the 
firft mechanical eflfay,; from fimple outline, 
to the magic fcale of Grecian colours ; to 
diftinguifh the three claffes of painting, the 
epic, the dramatic, and the hiftorical ; the 
firft of which prepared, the fecond efta- 
blifhed, and the third refined it. The 
origin of all the arts is involved in obfcurity 
and oburnbrated by fable ; and while Pliny 
has preferved the fcanty materials of the 
one we are now contemplating, he loudly 
complains of the want of exa&nefs in the 
Greek writers on the fubje£t. An imitation 
of painting is obvious to the view of the 
fcholar, when Homer acquaints him with 
the employment of females in the higher 
ranks of life. Helen works on tapeftry a 
reprefentatiOn of the battles fhe had caufed, 
and the haplefs Andromache is called from 
a fimilar occupation to be informed of the 
fall of the illuftrious and much lamented 
defender of Troy. The praife of early 
excellence will be liberally befto wed by the 
learned artift on Polygnotus. His emula- 
tion will be excited by the art of Zeuxis, 
B 2 who 



36 COMMENTARIES 0£f 

who in a clutter of grapes could deceive 
the birds, and by the fuperior fkill of Par- 
rhafius, who in the imitation of a curtain 
deceived, and therefore furpaffed, his rival. 
The name of Apelles will be ever venerated 
by him whom learning has enabled to ex- 
plore the avenues of tafte ; and his obfer- 
vation to a young artift will be a warning 
voice againft a fondnefs for meretricious 
ornament ;— " Young man ! not being able 
to make your Helen beautiful, you have 
refolved to make her fine." His literary 
curiofity will be gratified by an endeavor 
to trace the high antiquity of painting in 
Egypt, and by perceiving the honor which 
was paid to the loweft profeffor of the art 
in China. 

Pliny will inform him that it was carried 
to perfection before the foundation of 
Rome. The inhabitants of Etruria were 
the firft who connected the practice of it 
with the ftudy of nature ! the tombs of the 
Tarquins (till remain as veftiges of their 
.fkill, and the vafes of Campania demon- 
strate 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 37 

ftrate how well the Grecian colonies 
taught the inhabitants of Italy the imitative 
arts. 

An acquaintance with the writings of 
the Greek hiftorians and dramatifts, a 
thorough knowledge of the mythology of 
the ancients, and of the works df Virgil 
and Ovid, would accomplifh the education 
of the painter. No picture of antiquity is 
more celebrated than the facrifice of Iphi- 
genia, the mafier-piece of Timanthes the 
Cynthian. His pencil could delineate the 
forrow of the prieft, the regret of UlyfTes, 
and the fympathy of Menelaus, but unequal 
to depidure the feelings of the father, he 
threw a veil over his face. Can the artift 
feel the force of mind which the author of 
this melancholy ftory porTerled, or be con- 
fcious of half the beauties of the piece, if 
he be ignorant of the language which has 
£onfecrated it to immortality ? 



Sir Jofhua Reynolds, in one of his dif- 

$ourfes to the royal academy, 'very truly 

P 3 obferves 3 



38 COMMENTARIES ON 

obferves, that he who is acquainted with the 
works which have pleafed different ages, 
and different countries, and has formed his 
opinion on them, has more materials, and 
more means of knowing what is analogous 
to the mind of man than he who is conver- 
fant only with the works of his own age or 
country. 

Nothing but a liberal education can 
enable the artift to exhibit that ethic of 
painting which is the acme of the art. 

In an ancient fpecimen, where the fpee^ 
tator could diftinguifh Ulyffes by hi$ 
feverity and vigilance, Menelaus by his 
mildnefs, and Agamemnon by a kind of 
divine majefty, an air of freedom in the fou 
pf Tydeus, of ferocity in Ajax, and of alerts 
nefs in Antilochus, was difcovered, that; 
chara&eriftic of tranfcendent excellence; 
which induced Ariftotle to denominate 
Polygnotus a painter of the manners, 
from the fame fource alone can the artift 

derive 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 39 

derive that vigor of mind which will enable 
him to counteract the fpirit of the age in 
which he lives. With nature and the works 
of the bed matters before him, Raphael 
was prevented by the want of education, 
from reaching the ideal of the ancients. 
Apelles foared into regions of empyrean 
purity; Raphael did but tread the earth, 
although he moved with majeftic dignity. 
When the art revived, the Roman fchool 
was diftinguiflied by the learning of its 
mailers. While the magnificence derived 
from its commerce with the eaft, charac- 
terifed that of Venice, and dictated its 
gaudy tafte ; the grovelling manner of the 
Dutch artifts may be accounted for from 
the habits of their countrymen. It is their 
delight to imitate the loweft obje&s ; the 
taverns, the fmith's fhop, and the vulgar 
amufements of boors. Hence it may be 
concluded, that grace and elegance are the 
handmaids of learning, and that learning 
confers upon the fine arts their irrefiftible 
attractions, 

P4 If 



40 COMMENTARIES ON 

If the mind of the Sculptor be unin- 
formed, his art will be merely a mechanical 
one. 

The ancient reliques have fo decided a 
fuperiority over thefineft works of modern 
times, that the generous emulation which 
will ftimulate the artift to imitate what 
perhaps never will be equalled, is connected 
with a natural curiofity to learn from what 
caufes their excellence proceeded. 

This eagernefs of enquiry can only be 
gratified by having recourfe to claffic 
authors, where he will find the poet, the 
mythologift, and the hiftorian contending 
to afford him information. 

Fancy has traced the origin of fculpture 
to the wilds of Scythia, and imagined the 
head of the Urus to have been the fymbol 
of the Deity. 

" The bull's ftern front to which rude myriads kneel 
*< The favorite idol of benighted zeal." 

Some 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 



4* 



Some authors give us the fame account 
of the origin of fculpture as of painting ; 
and the tale of the Corinthian maid, 
though twice told, is never heard with 
fcorn. 



In facred writ, the lamentation of a 
father for the premature death of a child, 
which induced him to confole himfelf with 
the formation of his image, is mentioned 
not only as a reft of parental affection, but 
as the origin of idolatry. " For thus in 
procefs of time an ungodly cuftom grown 
ftrong was kept as a law, and graven 
images were worfhipped by the command- 
ment of kings." The Egyptians very early 
applied themfelves to this art, and Luciart 
an Affyrian and a fculptor, fpeaks of them 
as diftinguifhed by their meritorious efforts 
in its infancy. Love, forrow and fuperfti- 
tion combined in the production of fculp- 
ture. Long before ftatues appeared, the 
trunk of a tree was worfhipped by the 
Tfaefpians as their Juno, and ftones of a 

cubic 



42 COMMENTARIES ON 

cubic form were confidered as fymbols of 
the divinity, 

A thoufand years were requiflte to bring 
the art to perfe&ion ; and the intelligent 
fculptor muft be delighted at the contraft 
of the pointed ftake, which was the firft 
Minerva of the Athenians, with the perfect 
works of Phidias and Praxiteles. 

The age of Alexander the Great, fome- 
what more than three centuries before the 
chriftian sera, w r as the epoch of all the arts 
and fciences; from which period they began 
to decline* 

The Grecian fculptors reprefented the 
tortures of Prometheus with unrivalled 
ability. The fcholar who thrills with 
horror at the defcription of iEfchylus, feels 
his mind relieved by doubting the authen- 
ticity of the ftory, and by yielding his 
affent to the report that Prometheus was a 
fervant high in the confidence of Ofiris an 

Egyptian 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 43 

Egyptian monarch, and that he was punifli- 
ed for communicating the arts of Egypt to 
the ruder Greeks; that the officer who 
guarded him was flain by Hercules, and the 
prifoner fet free. 

The ftory of Daedalus is the amufement 
of our early years, but we are not then 
taught to confider him as the father of 
Grecian fculpture. When he efcaped from 
the rage of Minos, fable gives him the 
invention of wings; but Paufanias fays 
that he executed a ftatue of Hercules, in 
return for his having buried his fon Icarus, 
whofe body had been caft upon a fhore. 
The reprefentation of the dance of Ariadne 
in bas relief, is mentioned as a work of 
great celebrity by Homer, 

6C A figured dance fucceeds, fuch once was feen 

In lofty GnofTus for the Cretan queen, 

Formed by Dsedalean art, a comely band 

Of youths and maidens, bounding hand in hand j 

The maids in foft cymars of linen dreft, 

Tlie youths all graceful in the gloffy vett," 

The 






44 COMMENTARIES ON 

The farther the Sculptor fhall be enabled 
to fearch the ftorehoufes of ancient learn- 
ing, the higher dignity will be attributable 
to his elegant art. He wili find the talents 
of Phidias to have been fo remarkable as to 
form an sera in the hiftory of fculpture. 
The genius of this Athenian, matured un- 
der the reign of Pericles, excited him to 
convert the marble brought by the Perfians 
as a trophy of their victory, into a memo- 
rial of their defeat. The artift who tranf- 
mitted to pofterity the figures of thofe 
intrepid patriots that dared to oppofe the 
tyranny of Hipparchus, rendered fculpture 
the means of exciting a patriot ardor in 
the minds of an enflaved people, and of 
perpetuating the memory of thofe who 
perifhed in the defence of public liberty. 
He was adored by the Athenians, and the 
name of Praxiteles will exift, while thofe of 
Harmodius and Arifiogiton fhall be remem- 
bered. 

The approach to the heart is quicker by 
the eye than by the ea:f : what effe<3: mud 

thefe 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 45 

thefe flatues have had upon contemporary 
beholders, when Lowth informs us, that 
the fong of Harmodius would have gone 
further to put an end to the tyranny of 
the Csefars, than all the Philippics of 
Demofthenesl 

Sculpture not only explains ancient hift- 
ory, but unfolds ancient manners, A 
ftatue of a man rubbing himfelf after the 
ufe of the bath, delighted the fancy of 
Tiberius ; and he removed it from the baths 
of Agrippa, to his own chamber. The 
people clamored for its reftoration, and 
compelled the tyrant to yield in a trifling 
conteft, whom they had not the fpirit to 
oppofe in his invafion of their liberties. 
The Romans had a fingular inaptitude for 
this elegant art, which feems not reluc- 
tantly confeffed by the beft of their poets* 

" Excudent alii fpirantia mollius sera." 

Still they had tafte or rapacity enough to 

import the beft ftatues from tfte country 

13 they 



46 COMMENTARIES ON 

they had fubdued, and by an unworthy 
fpecies of deceit, which was not the parent 
of a generous rivalfhip, they often erafed 
the Grecian infcriptions, and inferted falfe 
titles of their own countrymen. 

It is not to be wondered at, that the 
ftatue of Alexander, after the conqueft of 
Macedon, fhould adorn the portico of Me- 
tellus, or that Csefar 

«« Sighed at the fculptured form of Amnion's fon." 

But it is impoffible not to defpife thd 
fraud of the great Conftantine, who put 
his own name on the ftatue of Apollo. 

Indeed deceptions of every kind were 
common. Phsedrus informs us, that thofe 
who had pieces of fculpture to fell, erafed 
the name of an inferior artift, and fubfti- 
tuted that of Praxiteles. 

Too much admiration cannot be ren- 
dered to the Grecians for the excellence to 
3 which 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 47 

which they carried the art of fculpturej 
nor too much refpecT: for the ufes to which 
they applied it. It was with them an 
honorable and a lading tribute to departed 
worth, and a powerful ftimulus to laudable 
emulation. The poet and the orator 
fliared its honors with the hero and the 
patriot ; and it is a high eulogium on the 
republican fpirit of the Athenians, that 
their juftice and gratitude induced them to 
erecl: a ftatue to Pififtratus, for having col- 
lecled and publifhed the works of Homer. 

Sculpture mud be in find alliance with 
learning, fince it has been faid that if time 
had reftored only the Laocoon, the Belvi- 
dere Apollo, and the Medicean Venus, 
a lover of the arts might confider his 
kindnefs equivalent to his literary benefi- 
cence, in preferving the compofitions of 
Demofthenes, Plato, and Homer. 



Much has been faid on the influence of 
climate on the human mind, and both the 
ancients and the moderns have extended it 

too 



48 COMMENTARIES Otf 

too far. Boeotia and Attica were adjacent 
countries, and if the ftatues found at 
Thebes, were generally the work of fo- 
reign artifts, it fliould be remembered that 
there was a law in that country, by which 
fculptors and painters who did not excel, 
were liable to a fine : a mod injudicious 
regulation, and of itfelf fufficient to check 
the labor of induftry, and reprefs all the 
energies of genius ! Where fuch obftacles 
did not oppofe them, an unwholefome 
atrnofphere could not extinguish the poetic 
fire of Pindar, nor cloud the philofophic 
fpirit of Plutarch. The hiftory of fculp- 
ture will prove it to be an art connected 
with the fubiimefl fentiments, and the beft 
affections of the foul ; and the artift who is 
unacquainted with the writings of the an- 
cients, muft be contented to remain a fer- 
vile copier, or at beft to exercife the chif- 
fel of the ignorant mechanic, undirected by 
the mind of the mafter. 

Although very little of the practical part 
of mufic is come down to us, yet the won- 
derful 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 



49 



derful effect of this delightful art on the 
fenfibility of the ancients, is an induce- 
ment to us to examine the various teftimo- 
nies of its effedt in foftening the manners, 
promoting civilization, and humanizing 
men naturally favage and barbarous. 



Pythagoras, the Samian philofopher, 
endeavoured to demonftrate, that the uni- 
verfe was fabricated by a rnufical fcale. 
On account of their particular talent, Apol- 
lo was confidered as the highefl of the gods* 
and Orpheus of the demi-gods ; and the 
graved of writers, the hiftorians and philo- 
fophers of Greece, contend with the poets 
in their praifes of mufic. 

The learned mufician will know from 
Herodotus, that it was long difputed be- 
tween the Egyptians and Phrygians, which 
of them firft cultivated the art, for man in- 
vents, but does not create. Sacred and 
profane hiftorians derived moft of the arts 
from Egypt. By geometry they afcer- 
tained the boundaries of private property 
£ which 



5© COMMENTARIES ON 

whieh the overflowing of the Nile had 
obliterated. The antiquity of their archi- 
tecture, the oldeft profane hiftorian could 
not difcover. To Egypt the world is pro- 
bably indebted for the knowledge of har- 
mony, and the geometrical menfuration of 
founds. There the profeflion of mufic 
was hereditary in the priefthood ; a prac- 
tice adopted by the Hebrews, and their 
Mercury was faid to have invented the lyre 
by accidentally ftriking his foot againft the 
{hell of a tortoife, on the banks of the 
Nile. The oldeft inftrument of mufic 
demonftrates man to have been originally a 
hunter and a fifher j for the lyre was com- 
pofed of two parts the horn of an animal, 
and the Ihell of a fiih. The hymns to 
Bacchus, preferved in the Greek writers, 
are fuppofed to have originated in Egypt • 
and the enquirer into the origin of the art, 
will find it to have had admiilion into the 
religious ceremonies, public feftivals, and 
focial amufements of mankind. The mufi- 
cian was fo highly efteemed in ancient 
times, that Quintilian informs us he was 
l honored 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. $ l 

honored with the name of prophet and of 
fage : from Phoenicia, in fcripture denomi- 
nated Canaan, mufic paffed into Greece, 
where to the fabulous reports of its mira- 
culous efficacy, a voluntary credulity 
yielded its aflfent. 

It was faid to poflefs not only the more 
credible power of repreffing the paffions, 
but the medicinal quality of curing difeafes. 

Terpander is reported to have appeafed 
a violent fedition by mufic \ and Solon by 
finging an elegy of his own compofition, 
to have excited his countrymen, the Athe* 
nians, to the renewal and termination of a 
war with Salarnis. 

It was afferted that fevers were removed 
by fong, and that deafnefs was cured by 
the found of the trumpet ; that Thales 
delivered the Laced semonians from a pef- 
tilence by the fweetnefs of his lyre; and that 
the found of inftruments was fuccefsfully 
employed in the cure of madaefs, epilepfy, 

E 2 and 



52 COMMENTARIES ON 

and fciatic gout. Homer reprefents Aga- 
memnon as confiding the chaftity of 
Clytemneftra to the guardianfhip of aMufi- 
cian, until whofe difmiflal, her feducer 
JEgifthus had no power over her affe&io.ns. 

" At firft with worthy fliame and decent pride 
The royal dame his lawlefs fuit denied ; 
For virtue's image yet poffeffed her mind, 
Taught by a matter of the tuneful kind. 
Atrides parting for the Trojan war, 
Configned his youthful con fort to his care. 
True to his charge, the bard preferved her long 
In honor's limits, fuch the power of fong." 

Ariftotle fays that the Tyrrhenians never 
fcourged their flaves but by the found of 
flutes, in order to give fome counterpoife 
to pain. 

How highly the ancients appreciated 
this art, may be known by the account 
We read of Amphion having raifed the 
walls of Thebes, by the magical influence 
of his lyre. 



If 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 53 

If this induced the Thebans to fortify 
their town, we can readily acquiefce in 
the interpretation given by the poets, and 
in the wonderful powers poffefled by the 
artift. The mufes were originally only 
fingers in the fervice of Ofiris, the Egyp- 
tian Bacchus ; they were deified t in Greece, 
denominated the daughters of Jupiter, and 
fome of them derived their names from the 
excellence of their voice. 

The defcriptions of the orgies of Bacchus 
are the moft voluptuous of ancient poetry. 
This god of pleafure is regaled with mufic 
as well as wine, and the Dithyrambics 
which gave birth to dramatic reprefentation 
are coeval with his worlhip. 

The Sirens of Sicily are in the common- 
place book of every claffical fchoolboy; 
and the wife Ulyffes although cautioned 
by the following warning of Circe, found 
great difficulty in refifting their fedu&ion : 

E 3 Nest 



54 COMMENTARIES ON 

ft Next where the Sirens dwell you plough the feas/ 
Their fong is death, and makes deftrudtion pleafe. 
Unbleft the man whom mufic wins to ftray 
Nigh the curfed fhore, and liften to the lay ; 
No more that wretch mail view the joys of life, 
His blooming offspring, or his beauteous wife." 



Every one feels an intereft in marking 
trie progrefs of an art, which in the rudeft 
ages of the world, was firft the delight 
of fhepherd-princes, next of ploughmen, 
and then of afibciated man ; when all that 
depended on proportion, appertained to 
the fcience of harmony. To whatever 
profefTion the moft illuftrious characters 
were deflined, a large portion of their time 
was applied to mufic. Nee fides didicit, 
nee natare, was difgraceful to every one 
of fortune and of birth. The fabulous ac- 
counts of Chiron, of Amphion, Orpheus, 
Linus and Mufeus, ferve at leafi: to fhew 
the general opinion of the art. Hercules 
is faid to have learned mufic in the fchool 
of Chiron, and an interesting painting, 

faved 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. $$ 

faved amidft the ruins of Herculaneum, 
exhibits the young Achilles receiving 
inftruftion on the lyre from the fame pre* 
ceptor. 

To Linus at the annual facrifice to the 
Mufes, the higheft honors were paid, and 
an altar and a ftatue eredted to him on 
mount Helicon. The ftory of Orpheus 
and Eurydice contains perhaps the higheft 
eulogium which any art has ever received. 

The inftruments of mufic were few du- 
ring the Trojan war. A torch, the fhell of 
a fim, and the voice of a herald was fuc- 
ceffively the fignal of battle. The bard 
had a place of honor at all the banquets of 
the Greeks, and Penelope informs us of the 
entertainment he afforded to the enraptured 
guefts. 

U Phemius ! let afts of gods and heroes bold, 
What ancient bards in hall and bower have told, 
Attempered to the lyre, your voice employ, 
Such the pleafed ear will drink with filent joy." 

E4 The 



$6 ' COMMENTARIES ON 

The two offices of poet and mufician 
were combined in all the Grecian games, 
and Alcasus and Sappho, Simonides and 
Pindar fuftained both thefe characters. But 
to mufic at the public games, a ftill higher 
dignity was attached ; for it was there ren- 
dered fubfervient to the facred caufe of 
liberty. Not only Rhapfodifts were ap- 
pointed to fing the verfes of Homer, but 
Harmodius and Ariftogiton who had op- 
pofed the Pififtratidse and Ariftobulus who 
had delivered the Athenians from the power 
of the thirty tyrants, were the fubjects of 
their mellifluous praifes. That art indeed 
muft have been juftly efteemed which 
could boaft of Socrates, Plato, and Pericles 
as its profeffed admirers and patrons. 

The learned author of the Hiftory of 
Mufic has fhewn it to have been flowly 
progreffive in Greece. That the firft at- 
tempts were rude and fimple, that rhythm 
was attended to before tone or melody, 
that inftruments of percuffion preceded all 

othersj 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. $J 

others, that the fteps in the dance, and the 
feet in poetry, were marked with precifion 
before founds were refined ; that the flute 
imitated, and the lyre accompanied the 
■voice in its inflexions of forrow and of 
joy ; and what excites the curiofity of the 
fcholar, that the irregularities in the verfi- 
fication of the later Greeks, were an indul- 
gence to the inftrumental performer. 

From the public games mufic pafled to 
the ftage, where the chorus was fubfervient 
to the melody of the lyrift, and from being 
the humble companion of poetry, became 
its fovereign. 

The Romans borrowed all the liberal 
arts from other nations ; before Greece was 
known to them they derived their mufic 
from Etruria, a country peopled by a Gre- 
cian colony, to which their youth were 
fent for education. Dionyfius HaJicar- 
naffus fays, that Romulus and Remus 
acquired at Gabii the knowledge of the 
Greek language, mufic, and the ufe of 

arms. 



58 COMMENTARIES ON 

arms. In the time of Nuraa the Salii 
danced to the flute, and Servius Tullius 
inftituted military mafic. In funerals mufic 
became an accompaniment, and it was con- 
ftantly attached to the Roman drama. 
Mufic, in the later periods of Rome, was 
chiefly confined to flaves ; in Greece, it 
was juftly confidered as a liberal art, and 
appropriated to freemen. This circum- 
ftance may account for the pre-eminence 
it reached in the latter country. That 
capricious tyrant Nero is faid to have ap- 
peared on the ftage at Naples as a public 
finger, and to have compelled the judges in 
a thoufand contefts, to aflign to him the 
prize. 

Though the fcience of mufic is certainly 
obfcure and difficult, the knowledge of the 
theory of Grecian harmony, will tend 
greatly to elucidate it ; and the learned 
practitioner will be highly gratified by 
feeing the prodigious effe&s afcribed by 
the ancients to the favorite object of his 
purfuit, and the intimate connection which 

it 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 



59 



it has always had with manners, policy 
and religion. Who would not defire to 
know the hiftory of an art, which under 
the guidance of philofophy, has been faid 
to be one of the iublimeft gifts of heaven, 
and thenobleft inventions of men ? 

There is no country in the world where 
commerce leads to wealth by fo direct and 
fhort a road as in England. The Englifli 
merchant is every where celebrated for the 
liberality of his conduit ; and a certain 
portion of claffical attainments would to no 
rank of fociety be both more ornamental 
and more ufeful. Riches rapidly conduit 
to honors and diftindtion, and it is highly 
requifite that ignorance mould not difgrace 
the elevated ftation to which induftry has 
climbed. That a knowledge of the dead 
languages facilitates the acquirement of the 
living ones, which are effential to a man of 
extenfive concerns, is an aflertion as incon- 
trovertible as it is general. 



But 






60 COMMENTARIES ON 

But it is alfo the frequent ambition of 
gentlemen engaged in commercial bufinefs, 
to become magiftrates and members of the 
fenate, where their decifion and their advice 
on queftions of the greateft import to the 
intereft of individuals and of their country, 
is looked to with refpe&ful deference. 

To every man in public life, the capacity 
of delivering his fentiments without per- 
plexity or hefitation, is moft defirable. 
This cannot be acquired by habit alone, 
for the foundation of all eloquence is a 
knowledge of the fubje£t, and one of its 
principal conftituents is purity of language ; 
both thefe refult from education and re- 
flexion. 

Riches can then only be regarded as the 
means of happinefs when they produce a 
defire for virtuous diftindion ; but if the 
poffeffor has negle&ed the culture of the 
mind, they ferve but to expofe him to ridi- 
cule and contempt. 

In 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 6l 

In vain will it be that he refort to a 
fplendor of equipage and retinue to coun- 
terbalance the defect of education, for there 
can be no counterpoife to poverty of mind 
in oftenfible fituations. How evident is 
this in fuch perfons of noble birth as debafe 
themfelves by moral inactivity and mental 
indolence, who wafte the precious years of 
youth in the amufements of the turf or the 
gaming table, which had been well employ- 
ed in mufing on the banks of the Ifis, or 
in exploring the treafures of the Bodleian, 

But although to every commercial man, 
public life may not have equal attractions, 
yet claflical learning will furnifh to every 
one a feaft of luxury. In his occafional 
retreats from the buftle of bufinefs, it will 
be the folace of his labour, and the fource 
of rational entertainment. He will learn 
from it the proper ufe of profperity, and be 
eager to poffefs the endowments which 
conftitute its value, In a ftate of nature, 
bodily ftrength or perfonal valour decides 
6 the 



62 COMMENTARIES ON 

the fuperiority of man ; but in the prefent 
ftate of fociety, all but the loweft claffes are 
fummoned to mix fpeculation with adtion, 
and the higher energies of the mind are 
required to dignify their worldly condi- 
tions. 

It is faid by Montefquieu, that commerce 
is a cure for the mod deftru&ive prejudices, 
and that wherever there is commerce, there 
we meet with agreeable manners. 

That an intercourfe with other nations, 
and an acquaintance with their manners, 
will enable us by comparifon to improve 
our own, is a propofition not to be denied ; 
but if this intercourfe be merely a barter of 
commodities, furely from fuch traffic a 
polilhed urbanity cannot proceed. It is 
probable that a fpirit of trade may fix in 
the mind a fentiment of exaft and fcrupu- 
lous juftice, but it requires education to 
expand that rigid principle both in its de- 
mands and its conceffions. 

The 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 6$ 

The fame author juftly obferves, that the 
great enterprizes of merchants are always 
neceffarily connected with the affairs of the 
government; but experience will notjuftify 
his aflertion that they are not fuited to 
monarchical, but only to republican go- 
vernments : indeed a fubfequent chapter of 
his own work contradicts it ; for he there 
fays, that the Englifh know better than any 
other people upon earth how to value thefe 
great advantages, religion, commerce and 
liberty. It is impoffible to look back to 
the earlieft effe&s of commerce in this 
country without veneration and gratitude. 
We owe to it the firft check which was 
given to ariftocratical power, that giant in 
ftrength, and tyrant in oppreffion ; we owe 
to it the recognition of the equal rights of 
all the citizens, and the dawn of that civil 
liberty which diffufes its bleffings over the 
whole community. 

The commerce of the ancients, even in 
the days of Alexander, was fo infignificant 

when 



f>4 COMMENTARIES ON 

when compared with that of modern times f 
that however it might amufe the leifure 
hours of the merchant to ftudy the writings 
of their hiftorians, with a view to obtain 
information on this point, he would pro- 
bably not find it of much pra&ical utility 
to him. 

Still like the liberal arts, he would per- 
ceive it migrating from one quarter of 
the globe to another, as conqueft expelled 
or freedom offered it an afylum. His pre- 
judices in favour of his native country, 
would unqueftionably be gratified by ob- 
ferving, that while the proudeft cities in 
Afia, whofe commerce once convened all 
the nations of the world, now exift only in 
the pages of Livy and of Strabo, a gloomy 
foreft, an ifland of barbarians, girt by rocks 
and beaten by feas, difplays a fcene at 
which the falfe pride of Cicero would have 
revolted : — " The fame people at once the 
lords and fa&ors of the univerfe ." 

Having 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 65 

Having thus endeavoured to (hew the 
advantages of claffical learning in its refer- 
ence to the feveral profeffions, it is my 
defign to attempt an illuftration of this 
doclrine, by an outline of the life and a 
brief review of the works of the principal 
poets, orators, and hiftorians of antiquity. 

At the outfet of this inquiry, I wifh pre- 
cifely to ftate the motive which has induced 
me to enter upon it, left fuch of my readers 
as might expect to find the laborious in- 
vestigations of the commentator, or the 
accute obfervations of the critic in this 
work, fhould be difappointed and difgufted 
by the perufal of it. My fole purpofe is 
to enforce an important truth, — the utility 
of a liberal education to individuals and to 
fociety, If perfons of each fex, and of various 
ages and conditions, fhall find their accefs 
to this difcuffion rendered more eafy by 
its being conducted in our vernacular lan- 
guage, and diverted of all parade of 
learning; and if literary men fhall not 
difdain to approve a work which, having 

* that 



66 COMMENTARIES ON 

that object in view, has affumed a popular 
air; their fuffrages will vindicate the nature 
of my plan, and their candour will palliate 
the defe&s of its execution. 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 6j 



SECTION II. 

Ofi the Epic Poets of Greece — Hottier, He/tod, Apollonlu: 
Rhodtus, 

The climate of Greece, and the lively 
imagination of the people, their cuftoms 
and their religious rites, were all peculiarly 
favourable to poetry. 

Thefe circumftances fhould be prefent to 
bur minds when we compare ancient and 
modern literature. It fhould bfc remem- 
bered that, nature being always the fame, 
the firlt poet who gave a defcription of the 
fpring, of ftorms, of the night, of beauty, 
and of battles, was likely to make the 
ftrongeft imprefllon on the readers; and 
every fucceeding one to appear only a 
copier or a plagiarift. It feems fair to 
feafon thus when we perufe the pages of 
Homer, as it may tend, although not to 
i 2 leffete 



68 COMMENTARIES ON 

leflen our veneration for excellence, yet by 
calming our raptures to enable us more 
correctly to appreciate his merit. Poetry 
is the firft art which civilized nations have 
cultivated, and the epic the earlieft poetry. 
Second, in order of time, to the Holy 
Scriptures, and to the works of Indian and 
Chinefe writers, are the poems of Homer. 
The few fragments of Orpheus which we 
poffefs are fcarce worthy to contradid this 
affertion, but they ferve to prove that the 
firft employment of the mufe was to cele- 
brate gods and heroes. The epic is the 
recital in verfe of an action probable, Jieroic, 
and interefting. Not bound by the ftricl: 
rules of hiftoric truth, it muft, however, be 
guided by moral probability. Confecrated 
to great fubjedts it becomes heroic; and it 
is rendered interefting becaufe it captivates 
the imagination, and penetrates the foul. 

Of all the productions of which the hu- 
man underftanding is capable, epic poetry 
is unqueftionably the higheft, fince it in- 
cludes the beft qualities of every fpecies of 
writing. It cannot, therefore, but afford 

us 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 6<) 

us amufement and inftr action to recall to 
our memory thofe great mafters, whofe 
names are immortalized by the fuperior 
nature of their works, and the unrivalled 
afcendancy of their genius. 

Homer was born, probably, about nine 
hundred years before the chriftian aera, and 
three hundred after the Trojan war. Of 
fo great a writer we are naturally anxious 
to inquire into every particular of the life, 
but here our curiofity will not be gratified. 
He is known only by his works; for though 
feven cities contended for the honour of 
giving him birth, no authentic documents 
remain to decide the conteft. His imputed 
poverty is not well afcertained, fince it is 
even doubtful whether the reception which 
he every where met with in his travels, 
did honor to the compaffion or to the 
hofpitality of his hofts. At all events, he 
amply recompenfed their kindnefs by the 
recital of his incomparable poems. From 
very early times much induftry has been 
wafted by learned men on the birth-place 
of Homer ; and if the Emperor Adrian 

v 3 was 



JO COMMENTARIES ON 

was willing to rely on the anfwer of the 
Oracle who fixed it at Ithaca, pcfterity lefs 
credulous refufes to acquiefce in fuch fuf- 
picious authority; Perhaps the town of 
Smyrna and the ifland of Chios exhibit the 
beft pretenfions to that honor. But the 
queftion is furely unimportant, fmce human 
nature has the honor of his genius, and the 
world at large can hoaft the treafure of his 
works. It is not, however, unamufmg to 
contemplate the fabulous accounts we have 
received of him, 

Euftathius declares him to have been 
born in Egypt, and nurfed by the prieftefs 
Ifis, whofe breaft fupplied him with honey 
inftead of milk ; that one night the infant 
was heard to fet up cries which refembled 
the fong of nine different birds ; and that 
the next day there were found in his cradle 
nine turtle-doves who played with him. 
Diodorus Siculus tells us, that Homer had 
found a manufcript of a certain Daphne, 
piieftefs of the temple of Delphi, who 
had an admirable talent for rendering in 

good 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. *]l 

good verfe the oracles of the gods, aad 
that thence Homer tranfcribed them into 
his poems. Others make him defcended 
in a right line from Apollo, from Linus, 
and from Orpheus. It is alfo fabled that 
long before his time, a woman of Memphis, 
whofe name was Phantafy, had compofed 
a poem on the Trojan war. All thefe 
prove the tafte of the Greeks for allego- 
rical tales, and compofe the higheft poffible 
eulogium on the greateft of poets. 

His verfes were firft fung in Ionia by 
the rhapfodifts or reciters. Not being then 
collected into books, they would chant 
fome favorite part of them ; the quarrel of 
Achilles with Agamemnon, or the death of 
Patroclus, or the parting of Hector and 
Andromache. Lycurgus, in his voyage to 
Ionia, firft collected and brought them to 
Lacedsemon, whence they fpread through 
the whole of Greece. In the time of Solon 
and Pififtratus, Hipparchus, fon of the 
latter, made a new copy at Athens by order 
of his father, which was currently in ufe 
till the time of Alexander the Great. That 
f 4 prince 



72 COMMENTARIES ON 

prince commanded Callifthenes and Anax- 
archus carefully to review the poems of 
Homer, which mull have been altered in 
paffing through fo many hands and fo 
many countries. Ariftotle was confulted 
about this edition, which was called the 
cafket ; becaufe Alexander inclofed a copy 
of it in a fmall box of ineftimable value, 
taken on his journey from Arbela, amidft 
the fpoils of Darius. This he always kept 
under his pillow, faying that the mod' 
precious cafket in the whole world fhould 
contain the fineft work of human genius. 

After the death of Alexander, Zenodorus 
of Jiphefus again revifed this edition, under 
the reign of the firft of the Ptolemies, 
Finally, under Ptolemy Philometer, five hun- 
dred years before Chrift, Ariftarchus, fo 
celebrated for his tafte and underftanding, 
undertook the laft revifion of the poems of 
Homer. This eclipfed all the others ; it is 
the one which has come down to us, and 
feems to have fuffered few eflential altera^ 
tipns t 



Np 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 73 

No fubjeft could have been found to 
operate fo forcibly on the feelings of the 
Grecians, as that of the fiege and deftruc- 
tion of Troy. The recital of the interefting 
ftory muft at once have gratified their 
vanity, excited their military ardour, and 
warmed their patriotifm. That the choice 
of his fubjeft was not more happy than 
the execution of his plan, is a commenda- 
tion bellowed on Homer by the beft critics 
of every age. Horace places him above 
the chiefs of the Academy and the Portico; 
and though Plato would banifh him, to- 
gether with all other poets, from his repub- 
lic, yet he confefles that his early refpe£t 
and love for his writings, ought to chain hi$ 
tongue ; that he is the creator of all the 
poets who have followed him. 

The fable of the Iliad, diverted of its 
epifodes, is remarkably fimple and concife. 
!' One of the Grecian generals, difcontented 
with the commander in chief, retires from 
the camp, deaf to the call of duty, of rea- 
fon, and of his friends ; he fcruples not to 
abandon the public weal to his private 

pefentment ; 



74 COMMENTARIES ON 

refentment ; and his enemies, profiting by 
his mifconduct, obtain great advantages 
over his party, and kill his bofom-friend. 
Vengeance and friendfhip induce him to 
re-affume his arms, and he overcomes the 
chief of the enemy." 

Whoever carefully perufes the Iliad, will 
find the execution of the work to be not 
lefs judicious than the plan, which was to 
demonftrate the evils arifing from difcord 
amongft rulers. 

The defcription that Homer gives of 
characters is throughout eonfiftent, and his 
manner, though fimple, is fublime. His 
images are finifhed pictures, his reflections 
are moral axioms. His imagination is rich 
in a fuperlative degree ; and his knowledge 
is univerfal. He is of all profeflions, poet, 
orator, mathematician, philofopher, geo- 
grapher, and artifan. In the order of his 
ftory there is a variety, and in the relation 
of it an energy, which are produced by 
elevation of genius; and his verfes, which 
delight the ear by their rhythm and 

their 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 75 

their cadence, denominate him the true 
poet of nature. 

In reading the twelve firft books of 
Homer, we are ftruck with the fimple yet 
noble progrefs of the work. We admire 
the artifice of the poet, who fuffess the 
intervention of the gods to terminate a bat- 
tle between Menelaus and Paris, which 
muft otherwife have terminated the war. 
Our attention is fummoned to that part 
where Helen paffes before the old Trojans, 
who regard her with admiration, and are 
no longer aftonifhed at feeing Europe and 
Afia bleeding on her account. Her con- 
verfation with the aged Priam, when flie 
makes known to him the principal chiefs 
of Greece, is particularly interefting. The 
fcene between Hedlor and Andromache 
when the hero returns to order a facrifice, 
and then departs from Troy iiever,to re- 
enter it, has not been celebrated too often 
pr too much. 

Thefe are delightful epifodes, which 
agreeably vary the uniformity of the prin- 
cipal action. 

In 



j6 COMMENTARIES ON 

In the ninth book, Homer appears as a 
dramatift and an orator. In the fpeeches 
of Phoenix, of Ulyffes, of Ajax, and in 
the anfwer of the inflexible Achilles, we 
may difcern models of all kinds of elo- 
quence. We are then carried to the field 
of battle where the contending armies dis- 
play every effort of prowefs. The Greeks 
are driven within their entrenchments, 
and their mips become their laft afylum. 
The Trojans haften in crowds to force 
this barrier, and Sarpedon pulls down one 
of the battlements of the wall ; He&or 
hurls an enormous ftone againft the gates; 
they fly open, and he loudly calls for a 
torch to fire the mips ; 

41 Hafte, bring the flames ! the toil often long years 
Is finifhed, and the day defired appears." 

Almoft all the chiefs of Greece are 
wounded, and retired from fight. Ajax is 
the only rampart of his country, which 
he ftill protects with his valour and his 
fliield ; at length, though opprefled by fa- 
tigue, 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 77 

tigue, and driven to the Ihips, he yet repels 
the vi&ors ; 

u Ev'n to the laft, his naval charge defends; 

Now makes his fpear, now lifts, and now protends. 
Ev'n yet the Greeks with piercing fhouts infpires, 
Amidft attacks and death, and darts and fires." 

The flames at length appear rifing from i 
the (hips; and this was the date which 
Achilles had fixed to his rage. He then 
yields to the entreaties of his friend ; 

H Arm, arm, Patroclus ! Lo ! the blaze afpires, 
The glowing ocean reddens with the fires. 
Arm, ere our veffels catch the fpreading flame, 
Arm, ere the Grecians be no more a name." 

It has been juftly obferved by Mr. Gib- 
bon, that the 16th book of the Iliad af- 
fords a very clear idea of the polytheifm 
of the Greeks, and that it contains fome 
prodigioufly fine fimilies. When encou- 
raged by Apollo, who promifes him the 
aid of Jove, how glorious is the ardour 
and how powerful the efFeft of He&or's 
fortitude ! 

« Urged 



78 COMMENTARIES ON 

'* Urged by the voice divine, thus He&or flew. 
Full of the god, and all his hoft purfue ; 
As when the force of men and dogs combined 
Invade the mountain goat, or branching hind £ 
Far from the hunter's rage, fecure they lie, 
Glofe in the rock, not fated yet to die ; 
When lo ! a lion moots acrofs the way, 
They fly : at once the chafers and the prey. 
So Greece that late in conquering troops purfued, 
And marked their progrefs thro' the ranks in bloody 
Soon as they fee the furious chief appear, 
Forget to vanc^uifh, and confer.t to fear." 

Pofz. 

It is from the Iliad that Lohgirius 
felefts his examples of grand ideas, and 
grand images. He takes an inftance of it 
from the 20th book, where Jupiter gives 
permiflion to the gods to mingle in the 
quarrel with the Greeks and Trojans, and 
to defcend into the field of battle. He 
Limfelf gives the fignal by making his 
thunder found from the height of heaven ; 
and Neptune* ftriking the earth with his 
trident, makes the fummits of Ida to 
tremble. You fee, fays Longinus, the 
earth fhaken to its foundation, Tartarus 

difcovered, 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 79 

difcovered, the machine of the world over- 
turned, and heaven and hell, mortals and 
immortals, all together in the combat and 
in the danger. 

In the moral pictures of Homer, there 
is no one more captivating than that where 
the anger of Achilles is reprefented as 
yielding to the foft emotions of friendfhip. 
Patroclus, ever mild and amiable, feems to 
convey a portion of his fpirit to the inexo- 
rable hero. The contraft of paffions which 
is exhibited by Achilles, when he is in- 
formed of the death of Patroclus ; his ten- 
der cafe and pious offices to his corpfe ; 
the interview between him and Priam, 
when the afflicted monarch falls pro urate 
before the murderer of his fon ; are paf- 
fages which in point both of poetical merit 
and tragic effect, have never been excelled. 

It has been objected to Homer, that he 
has degraded his gods by reprefenting them 
as under the influence of fome of the mod 
defpicable of the human paffions : but it 
fhould be recollected that this was the vul- 
1 gar 



80 COMMENTARIES ON 

gar creed, and that if the gods of Virgil 
are beings of more dignity and worth, it is 
becaufe the age was more enlightened and 
refined. It is the duty of the philofopher 
to correct the falfe notions that prevail 
amongft men ; it is the office of the poet 
to reprefent them as they exift: the one 
is the reformer, the other the hiftorian of 
his time. Impreffed with the force of this 
objection againft Homer, fome of his ad- 
mirers have afferted that the mythology is 
merely allegorical : that the air was defig- 
nated by Jupiter, fire by Vulcan, the earth 
by Cybele, and the fea by Neptune, may 
be true ; but to declare that Jupiter means 
only the power of God, Deftiny his will, 
Juno his juftice, Venus his pity, and 
Minerva his wifdom, is a fentiment fo re- 
plete with abfurdity, that it can never ob- 
tain the affent of a rational critic. 

The manners of the times furnifh a fi- 

milar if not a fufficient apology for the 

heroes of Homer, as for his gods. Praife 

was the prerogative of bodily ftrength : he 

a. who 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 8l 

who could fuftain the greateft weight of 
armour, and pierce through cuiraffes and 
bucklers, had the higheft rank in the Gre- 
cian table of precedence. 

In forming our judgments oh ancient 
modes, we muft diveft ourfelves of the 
prejudices of habit and education. Mo- 
dern arms and modern honor, place all 
gentlemen on a level ; but in the Iliad, it 
is common to fee a warrior retreat without 
fhame, confeffing that another is his fupe- 
rior in ftrength. iEneas does not blufh 
when he fays to Achilles, I well know that 
you are more valiant than I am, (which 
means, I know you are ftronger,) but if 
fome god would aflift me, I could conquer 
you. 

This intervention of the deities raifed 
the warrior in the opinion of his contem- 
poraries ; for it conftituted no fmall fhare 
of his merit, to be a favorite of heaven. 
This too ferved as an excufe for every 
error, and for every crime. When 
Agamemnon would juftify himfelf for 
injuring Achilles* he fays, fome god 

G had 



82 COMMENTARIES ON 

had difturbed his reafon. Achilles ex- 
horts Patroclus to avoid Hector, for 
he had always near him fome protecting 
deity. 

It has been faid that the valour of Achilles 
excites no admiration, becaufe he is invul- 
nerable. This is a popular miftake ; an 
invention of later date, and no where to 
be found in the Iliad. Achilles is wound- 
ed in the hand ; and there is great addrefs 
in the poet, who reprefents his hero firm 
and undaunted in his m'rnd, although he is 
confeious that he fhall die before the walls 
of Troy. He knows that his youth and 
beauty, and the divinity of his mother 
will avail him nothing; that he facrifices 
every thing to glory; and though he car- 
ries conqueft all around, that he marches 
to inevitable death. All thefe circum- 
flances fix our attention on Achilles, for 
whom we feel that intereft which always 
attaches to extraordinary men.- The 
tranfeendant genius of Homer is fhewn, 
in making the retirement of his hero the 
fpring which gives action and energy to 

th$ 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 8$ 

the poem : even at the moment when 
He&or has driven the Grecians to their 
fhips, and their deftru&ion feems inevita- 
ble, our attention is carried from the fury 
of the fight, from flames and death, to 
contemplate Achilles in his tent, tranquilly 
lamenting the lofs of fo many brave men, 
victims to the rage of Agamemnon ; and 
exulting at the dreadful abafement of his 
pride. 

It has been obje&ed to Homer, that he 
exhibits his Chiefs employed in the moft 
fervile offices ; Achilles, for inftance, pre- 
paring the repaft for the deputies of the 
army. Nothing furely can be more falfe 
than this criticifm : if it be true, that a 
great genius " pleafes more when he daz- 
zles lefs," it is equally fo that a hero fum- 
mons a greater portion of our efteem, 
when he exhibits the mild attributes of 
courteoufnefs and humanity : 

(i When pure affecn'on thinks no office mean." 

Were a poet to treat of that point in hifto- 

ry where Curius receives the deputies 

c 2 of 



84 COMMENTARIES ON* 

of Pyrrhus, who come to bribe him with 
prefents, would he withhold the circum- 
ftance of the herbs which he prepared 
himfelf, and placed before them, faying, 
" You fee that he who lives in this man- 
ner, has no want of any thing. The Ro- 
mans do not care about having gold them- 
felves; they wifh to command thofe who 
have it." 

The mod reafonable cenfure brought 
againft the author of the Iliad, is the te- 
dious repetition of combats which occupy 
nearly half the work : the nature of his 
fubject is however partly an apology, and 
the richnefs of imagination with which he 
has ornamented them, in a great degree 
redeems the fault. " One while he de- 
fcribes the character, age, and nation of the 
dying hero ; at another time he defcribes 
different kinds of wounds arid death ; 
fometimes by tender and pathetic ftrokes he 
reminds the reader of the aged parent, who 
is fondly expecting the return of his mur- 
dered ion ; of the defolate condition of the 

widows 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. '85 

widows who will now be enflaved, and of 
the children that will be dafhed againft the 
ftones." A Grecian would have heard 
thofe recitals with enthufiam, which we 
perufe with coldnefs and faftidioufnefs. 

Envy is infeparable from excellence : 
two centuries and a half before the Chrif- 
tian sera, Zoilus, a fophiit, a declaimer, 
and a hungry critic, prefented his ftridlures 
on the works of Homer, to Ptolemy Phila- 
delphus ; but the monarch of Egypt re- 
jected them with difdafn. The temerity 
of the defamer was feverely p.uniflied by 
the inhabitants of Smyrna, who ordered 
him to be burned, as a memorial of their 
regard for a poet, whom they claimed as 
their citizen. 

Had Homer feen the criticifms of Zoilus, 
he would perhaps have been equally un- 
moved with the epic poet of our own 
country, when his bookfeller offered him 
five pounds for the copyright of his Para- 
dife loft. Like Milton, he would have 
known that immortality was the price of 
G 3 his 



86 COMMENTARIES ON 

his works, and that the difcernment of 
pofterity would fpontaneoufly pay it. 

The Emperor Caligula has completed 
his character by having endeavoured, hap- 
pily in fcVain, to deftroy the productions of 
Homer. The witty and the powerful 
were amongft his adverfaries ; yet though 
the fplendor of his name irritated pride 
and envy in a fimilar degree, neither 
fpecies of enmity could leffen his reputa- 
tion. 

Merit which can fuftain fuch proofs, is 
gold tried by the furnace. Our admira- 
tion of Homer yields only to his genius 
and his fame : three thoufand applauding 
years have confecrated his name, and we 
exult to find a poet fo great, and mankind 
fo juft. 

Longinus fays, that " Homer in the 
Odyfley is like the fetting fun, which is ftill 
great to the eyes, but we no longer feel its 
warmth. It is no longer the fire which 
animates the whole of the Iliad, that height 
of genius which never debafes itfelf, that 

activity 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 87 

activity which never repofes, that torrent 
of paflions which hurries us away, that 
crowd of fidions happy and probable; but 
as the ocean at the moment of its reflux, 
and when it leaves its mores, is ftill the 
ocean, the old age of which I fpeak, is ftill 
the old age of Homer." 

Thofe who are difpofed to depreciate 
the OdyfTey, fay of it, that its fables are 
only fitted for the amufement of children, 
that its progrefs languifhes, that the poem 
drags on from adventure to adventure 
without attracting attention or exciting 
intereft. That the fituation of Penelope 
and Telemachus is the fame during twenty- 
four books, — a conftant re-iteration of out- 
rages on the part of the fuitors, and fimilar 
complaints on the part of the mother and 
the fon. That UlyfTes is in Ithaca fo early 
as in the 12th book; that he lives a very 
long time with Eumasus difguifed as a 
beggar, while the adion of the poem does 
not advance a ftep. That in the menial 
offices and indignities fuftained by him 
there, Homer has outraged the effect of 
£ 4 contra ftj 



SS COMMENTARIES ON 

contraft, and paffed all the bounds of deco- 
rum. That the meeting of the huflbtand 
and the wife fo long expe&ed, is cold and 
unproductive of the effe&s of which it is 
fufceptible ; and, what is revolting to good 
fenfe, that fcarcely had Ulyffes been re- 
cognifed by Penelope, before he informs 
her that fate condemns him again to tra- 
verfe the world with an oar upon hi$ 
Ihoulder until he meet a man who may 
take it to fan his corn : — 

" To this the king : ah, why mull I difclofe 
A dreadful ftory of approaching woes ? 
Why in this hour of tranfport wound thy eats ? 
When thou mull learn what I mud fpeak with tears, 
Heaven by the Theban Ghoft thy fpoufe decrees 
Torn from thy arms to fail a length of feas." 

It is objected too, that the fojourning of 
Ulyffes in the ifland of Calypfo and of 
Circe, offers nothing interefting to the 
reader ; and that if Calypfo be the original 
of Dido, it is a drop of water converted into 
a pearl: that in his defcent to the mades 
below, Ulyffes entertains himfelf with a 
crowd of ghofts who are absolutely ftrangess 

to 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 89 

to him, and who recount adventures in 
which he is entirely uninterefted. 

Thefe ftridtures are undoubtedly too 
fevere, and not warranted by the impref- 
fion which the perufal of the Odyffey makes 
upon our minds. 

It prefents us with a pleafing picture of 
ancient manners, with the virtues of hofpi- 
tality and refpect for age, of patience, pru- 
dence, wifdom, temperance and fortitude, 
Menelaus, Neftor and Eumasus, difplay the 
firfl: ; Telemachus is a finking inftance of 
the fecond, together with courage, candour 
and noblenefs of nature ; and the others 
fhine in an unexampled manner in the 
character of Ulyfles. The addrefs of Eu- 
masus to his unknown mailer, is very 
attractive. 

** The fvvain replied ; It never was our guife 
To fiight the poor, or ought humane defpife. 
For Jove unfolds our hofpitable door, 
'Tis Jove that fends the ftranger and the poor." 

If Ulyffes be top much degraded by his 
difguife, and too long in inaction, yet 
thefe circumftances produce a fufpenfion 

and 



go COMMENTARIES ON 

and an attention to the cataftrophe, which 
render it more bold and lively. The 
flaughter of the fuitors is traced with colours 
which recal the pi&ures of the Iliad. Of 
the two poems the moral of the Odyffey is 
preferable. The qualities I have mentioned 
are of general concern, and all ranks of life 
may be benefited by the cultivation of 
them. The Iliad has been called the ma- 
nual of monarchs, and it undoubtedly 
furnifhes an awful leffon againft the impe- 
tuofity and tyranny of power. But its 
ufefulnefs is lefs extenfive, as its applica- 
tion is more limited. Of the fubje&s of 
the Odyffey one is perfectly in unifon with 
the nature of refentment, the other with 
our experience. Ulyffes is driven by the 
fury of the winds and waves, becaufe Nep- 
tune was juftly enraged at his treatment of 
his fon Polypheme; and the devaluation and 
ruin confequent upon his abfence from 
home, allowing fomewhat for poetical em- 
bellifhrnent, would occur in any family 
where the beauty of the miftrefs mould 
invite fuitors, and, the rapacity and info- 
2 lence 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 91 

lence of fervants fhould be without control 
The progrefs and cataftrophe of the poem, 
are equally probable as the plan. 

When a ftorm has compelled Ulyfles to 
afk the hofpitality of the Phseacians, they 
entertain him in a manner fuitable to the 
kindnefs and fimplicity of the times. A 
bard then furniflied the higheft entertain- 
ment at every feaft, and Demodorus recited 
the interefting ftory of the fall of Troy. We 
may eafily imagine what an effect this would 
produce on Ulyfles, and that the curiofity of 
the king Alcinous and his afiembled guefls 
would lead to the difcovery of the ftranger. 
Although modern refinement renders fimi- 
lar incidents impoffible, we feel no repug- 
nance in believing, that the Phaeacians were 
moved by the relation of his melancholy ad- 
ventures to fo great a degree, as to conduct 
him fafely to Ithaca. There the circum- 
ftance of his faithful dog, who recognifes 
him with all the acutenefs and affection 
which inftinct boafts, and then expires at 
his feet, affects the reader in the moft 
lively manner ; and the doubts, and fears, 

and 



92 COMMENTARIES ON 

and hopes of Penelope, are the natural 
iuggeftions of a mind long habituated to 
misfortune, at the fudden dawn of unex- 
pected happinefs. 

It is the glory of Homer to have been an 
original writer. The arts have been brought 
to perfection in corrupt times ; but poetr j 
may challenge to itfelf this honorable dis- 
tinction, that it attained its higheft excel* 
lence in an age of purity and Simplicity. 

Homer has been truly faid to be the 
great fource whence all the Greek writers 
derive their chief excellence. He gave rife 
to all the various kinds of compofition ; he 
is the beft poet and orator in the various 
kinds of elocution ; he excels all mankind in 
grandeur, vehemence, fweetnefe, and accu-, 
racy of ftyle. 

There is, however, a queftion which 
naturally fuggefts itfelf on this fuhject. 
Admitting the fact:, we are defirous to 
know the caufe of Homer's pre-eminence 
above all fubfequent poets. At firft view 
it fhould feem paradoxical, that all the 
writers of every age and country muft 

yield 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 93 

yield the palm to him, fince his compofi- 
tion, his ftyle, his di&ion, his manner, his 
fublimity, have prefented a model to their 
eyes, which while it inftructed and formed 
their underftanding, has ever flimulated 
them to a defire of competition and of ex- 
cellence. 

Sir William Temple has refolved the 
doubts of every fceptic in this ititerefting 
enquiry. " Of all the numbers of man- 
kind," fays he, " that live within the com- 
pafs of a thoufand years, for one man that 
is born capable of making a great poet, 
there may be a thoufand born capable of 
making as great generals or minifters of 
ftate as the moft renowned in ftory. Con- 
junctures and manners are not fufficient to 
produce poets. Greece and the climate of 
Afia, though in a proper temperament, for 
the fpace of two or three hundred years, 
produced only one Homer. Something 
more than thefe is neceffary, an univerfal 
and elevated genius, a quality as rare as it 
is valuable : certainly many circumftances 
of life, many advantages of education, and 
5 opportunities 



94 COMMENTARIES ON 

opportunities of knowing mankind, are 
neceifary ; great travelling, and wide ob- 



fervationr 



HE S 10 D. 

Of the precife period when Hefiod was 
faorn we have no certain account, but Afcra 
in Bceotia is faid to have been the place of 
his nativity. He w T ho fearches moft anx- 
ioufly for the date of that event, finds 
himfelf loft in the clouds by which anti- 
quity is obfcured. Whether he were anterior 
to the time of Homer, his contemporary, or 
fucceffbr, has been a fubjecT: on which an- 
cient writers have differed ; and their con- 
trary affertions (till require the corrobora- 
tion of proof One thing is certain, that 
he had feen his works, for he has entire 
verfes which are borrowed from him. My- 
thology feems to have ha^d two fathers ; and 
thefe moft ancient poets may alike lay claim 
to the production. 

Only two complete poems written by 
him are ftill extant, the one entitled Works 

and 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 



95 



and Days, the other the Theogony or the 
Birth of the Gods. The firft contains 
precepts of agriculture, from which proba- 
bly Virgil firft conceived his idea of the 
Georgics. But refledions which would do 
honor to a philofopher, are interfperfed 
throughout the work. It is divided into 
three parts, the one mythological, the other 
moral, the laft didactic. 

Hefiod begins by recounting the fable of 
Pandora; and if he be the inventor of it, 
no fcanty portion of praife is due to his 
imagination. We feel a confiderable gra- 
tification on its firft perufal ; and it is never 
read with difguft. He defcribes alfo the 
birth of Venus, and of thofe coy females, 
the nine daughters of Jupiter and Mnemo- 
fyne. 

Then follows a defcription of the differ- 
ent ages of the world, which has been 
imitated by Ovid; but the former poet adds 
one to the general number. Like every 
writer on this fubje£t, he confiders himfelf 
as living in the age of iron ; this age, there- 
fore, 



§6 commentaries on 

fore, muft have been of wonderful dura- 
tion. 

A courfe of morals fucceeds to his my- 
thology ; it is addreffed to his brother 
Perfeus, with whom he had been engaged 
in a law-fiut refpecling their paternal fuc- 
ceffion ; and in this part of his work, 
precepts of hufbandry are blended with 
lefTons of wifdom. He was a prieft of the 
Temple of the Mufes on Mount Helicon, 
and the gravity of his office was well fuited 
to the inftru&ions which he gave. The 
conclufion of the work is a tiffue of the 
moft abfurd fuperftitions. Particular days 
of the month are ftated as favorable to the 
celebration of marriage, to the {hearing of 
fheep, and to the production of children. 
Experience has not confirmed the hypo- 
thefis, which was the fuggeftion of the 
grofleft ignorance. 

The Theogony fatigues the reader with 
its long catalogue of gods and goddeffes of 
every fpecies ; but at the end of the work it 
repays him for his labour by an animated 

defcriptioa 



c 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 97 

defcription of the war of the gods againft 
the giants. This defcription, indeed, to* 
gether with that of winter in the Works and 
Days, is worthy to be compared with the 
fineft paflages of Homer. The picture of 
Tartarus where the Titans are thrown down 
by the thunder of Jupiter, has certain traits 
of refemblance to the Hell of Milton fo 
ftriking, that the one was probably the 
model of the other. A very fingular co- 
incidence, if we confider the difference in 
the religious fentiments of the authors. It 
is not true, as has been afferted, that Hefiod 
vanquifhed Homer in a poetical conteft at 
the funeral of Amphidamas; but his verfes, 
which are pofleffed of elegance of ftyle and 
fweetnefs of poetry, were written on tablets 
in the temple of the mufes, and the Greeks 
compelled their children to learn them by 
heart. 

Cicero confers upon him a handfome 
eulogium ; but Quintilian will not allow that 
he often rifes to excellence. He grants 
him only the praife which belongs to 
fmoothnefs of language, and refufes him 
h the 



98 COMMENTARIES ON 

the palm that is due to Superiority of 
talents. 



APOLLONIUS RHODIUS. 

This writer was born at Naucratis in 
Egypt, about two hundred and thirty years 
before Chrift. He was furnamed the Rho- 
dian from his refidence in that ifland. His 
education was the beft, for Callimachus 
and Pansetius were his preceptors. He wasr 

i 

one of the keepers of the famous library of 
Alexandria under Ptolemy Evergetes. No- 
thing remains of his writings but his poem 
on the Expedition of the Argonauts in four 
books. The plan of his work has been 
generally confidered as having too little of 
the epic in it. It is too hiftorical in the 
order of the fads, and overcharged with 
epifodes, which are introduced without 
felecYion,and told without effect. In fome 
parts the execution is not deftitute of merit. 
The love of Medea for Jafon, is painted in 
glowing colours ; and Virgil has not dis- 
dained to borrow ideas from Apollonius. 

But 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 



99 



But he has given to Dido a force of ex- 
preffion from which the Greek poet is far 
diftant. His plagiarifms are few, and his 
fuperiority is infinite. 






K 2 



IOO COMMENTARIES ON 



SECTION III. 

Lyric Poetry. Linus, Orpheus, Mufaus, Stefidorus, 
Sappho, Simonider, Anacreon, Pindar. 

1 pie origin of lyric poetry is loft in fable. 
Linus has been faid to be the inventor of 
rhythm and melody, and being born at 
Thebes in Bceotia, is one amongft many 
inftancesto prove how little is the influence 
of climate and local fituation on original 
genius. The poetry of the Greeks being 
always accompanied by mufic, produced 
that enthufiafm both in the hearer and the 
compofer, which was eafily excited in men 
remarkable for the fenfibility of their or- 
gans. The Mantuan bard affigns to Linus, 
in his fixth eclogue, the raoft diftinguifhed 
place amongft the favorites of the mufes, 
and honors him with the appellation of 
their interpreter. Mortals of great celebrity 

were 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 



101 



were frequently dignified by a fuppofed 
celeftial origin ; and the fon of Ifmenias the 
mufician, who had this tribute paid to his 
art by a certain king of Scythia, that he 
preferred his mufic to the braying of an 
afs, was poetically defcended from Mercury 
and Urania. Similar legendary tales in- 
form us, that he was killed by a ftroke of 
the lyre from his pupil Hercules, and that 
Apollo deprived him of life for prefuming 
to imitate him. 

It is unfortunate for his fame, that none 
of his poems remain to enable pofteritv to 
eftimate the quantity of truth which is 
blended with fiction, or to determine how 
well qualified Linus was to be the rival of 
a God. 

Orpheus, whether the fon of a Thracian 
king, or of Apollo, is generally faid to have 
been the offspring of Caliope, and to have 
attained a reputation fuperior to that of his 
preceptor Linus, becaufe he rendered poetry 
and mufic fubfervient to the ceremonies of 
religion. 



H 3 



Thefe 



102 COMMENTARIES ON 

Thefe ceremonies he borrowed from the 
Egyptians and introduced into Greece. He 
inftituted the myfteries of Bacchus, and the 
Eleufinian Ceres in imitation of thofe of 
Ifis and Ofiris. Some fragments attri- 
buted to him are preferved, which have no 
corruption of polytheifm, but which a 
chriftian and a philofopher may perufe 
with no fmall gratification. 

" God alone exifts of himfelf and by 
himfelf 5 he is in all things ; no mortal can 
fee him, and he fees every thing. He 
alone in his juftice diftributes the evils 
which afflicT: mankind, war and mifery. 
He governs the winds which agitate the 
air, and he lights the fires of the thunder. 
He fits on high in the heavens on a throne 
of gold, and the earth is under his feet. 
He ftretches his hand to the utmoft limits 
of the ocean, and the mountains tremble to 
their foundations. It is he who made 
every thing in the univerfe, and who is at 
once the beginning, the middle, and the 
end. 55 This fragment preferved by Suidas, 
feems to give fome fauttion to what has 

been 



CLASSICAL LEARNING, 



IO3 



been confidered a fanciful notion of Bifhop 
Warburton, refpe&ing the grand fecret in 
the Eleufmian myfteries. But if the unity 
of God were the belief of fages, the popular 
creed was effential to the prefervation of 
focial order amidft a people whofe imagi- 
nation was ardent, and whofe minds on 
this important fubjecl: were unenlightened. 

So correct was the conduct of Orpheus, 
that whoever led a life of more than ordi- 
nary purity, was faid to be his fcholan 
Indeed, his elevated fentiments of Deity 
would naturally operate on his morals and 
his heart, for poetry in his time was always 
intimately connected with ethics and reli- 
gion. 

Mufseus was the difciple of Orpheus, 
and prefided over the Eleufmian myfteries 
at Athens. Virgil in his fixth iEneid, 
places him at the head of the poets in the 
Elyfian Fields, where they celebrate thofe 
who are worthy of Apollo. None of his 
compofitions remain. In fearching into 
antiquity, we have perpetually to lament the 
depredations which time and violence and 
H 4 bigotry 



104 COMMENTARIES ON 

bigotry have made on the proudeft monu- 
ments of genius and of fkill. But it is 
fome confolation to refled that if the offer 
were given us to exchange what has been 
preferved for that which has been loft, we 
fhould not for a moment hefitate in retain- 
ing the valuable relics of which we are in 
poffeffion. 

Where is the literary epicure of refined 
tafte, who would fteal a moment from the 
enchanting entertainment with which Ho- 
mer and Pindar are ever ready to prefent 
him, in order to lament the lofs of thofe 
leiTer dainties that Bacchylides and Mu- 
fseus might once have afforded ? 

Thefe lyrical writers flourifhed nearly 
thirteen centuries before the chriftian sera ; 
and of many others who fucceeded them, 
after a lapfe of feveral centuries, we poffefs 
only a dull catalogue of names, and a few 
fragments contained in Athen»us. 

Amongft thefe is Alcaeus, who lived 
about fix hundred years before Chrift, a 
native of Mitylene, and the fuppofed in- 
ventor of the harp, and of Alcaic metre. 

His 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. IOJ 

His works are faid to have been ferviceable 
to the public manners ; concife, dignified 
and accurate in the ftyle, and not diffimi- 
lar to that of Homer. Still he could de- 
fcend to trifle on fubje&s of fport and love, 
and to pay his addrefTes to the much cele- 
brated inventrefs of Sapphic verfe. 

Poets have not been very remarkable for 
their courage. Alcaeus fled from a battle 
in which Pittacus delivered his country 
from the power of the Athenians, and 
his arms were fufpended in the Temple 
of Minerva, as a monument of his dis- 
grace, 

Horace in defcribing the amufement of 
the manes in Elyfium, fays, 

« Whene'er Alcseus lifts the ftrain, 
To deeds of war and tyrants flam ; 
In thicker crowds the fliadowy throng 
Drink deeper down the martial fong." 

Stefichorus was a native of Himera in 

Sicily ; he lived about five hundred and 

feventy years before Chrift, and received 

his name from fome alteration that he 

4 made 



106 COMMENTARIES ON 

made in the chorus which he fung to the 
accompaniment of his harp. Of twenty- 
fix books which he wrote in the Doric dia- 
led, but a few lines have reached pofterity. 
His merit muft have been confiderable, 
for his funeral was magnificently celebrated 
at the public coft, by the inhabitants of 
Catana ; and Phalaris the tyrant of Agri- 
gentum, ere&ed a temple to his name, and 
decreed him divine honors. 

About fix hundred years before the 
chriftian sera, Sappho, equally renowned 
for beauty, poetry, and ill-requited love, 
gave celebrity to the Ifle of Lefbos, the 
place of her nativity. The ufual cure for 
lovers, a leap from mount Leucate, put a 
period to her woes and her exiftence ; and 
the fpecimens of her talents which have 
reached us, a hymn to Venus, and an ode 
to Lefbia, together with the appellation 
of the tenth mufe, given to her by the an- 
cients, have induced the literary world to 
lament the lofs of her three books of 
lyrical compofitions, her elegies, and her 
epigrams. 

Philips 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 



I07 



Philips has done himfelf fo much credit 
by his tranflation of thofe odes, that my 
readers will probably not cenfure me for 
tranfcribing the firft flanza of one of 
them. 

" O Venus ! beauty of the flues, 
To whom a thoufand temples rife ; 
Gaily falfe in gentle fmiles, 
Full of lovt -perplexing wiles. 
O Goddefs ! from my heart remove 
The wafting cares and pains of love." 

Plutarch compares Sappho to Cacus the 
fon of Vulcan, who breathed nothing but 
flame ; and Horace fays, that the fire of 
her love ftill burns in her verfes. It is 
well obferved by Mr. Addifon, of this un- 
fortunate poetefs " that he does not know 
by the chara&er that is given of her works, 
whether it be not for the benefit of man- 
kind, that they are loft. They were filled 
with fuch bewitching tendernefs and rap- 
ture, that it might have been dangerous to 
have given them a reading. From the 
time of Homer till that of Sappho, there 
i$ almoft a total blank in literature ; nor are 
1 any 



Io8 COMMENTARIES ON 

any productions preferved between the 
time of Sappho and Anacreon, who flou- 
rifhed at the diftance of feventy years from 
each other. Between Anacreon and Pin- 
dar, another chafm appears. After this 
the works of the tragedians, hiftorians, and 
philofophers were produced, all within 
three hundred years ; the moft illuftrious 
period of human genius W 

Simonides a celebrated poet of Cos, was 
born about five hundred and thirty-feven 
years before Chrift, and lived in the court 
of Hipparchus the Athenian tyrant. He 
wrote elegies, epigrams, and dramatical 
pieces, efteemed for their fweetnefs and 
elegance. He compofed alfo an epic poem 
6n Cambyfes king of Perfia ; and another 
on the battle of Salamis. It was his hap- 
pinefs to be courted by all the princes of 
Greece and Sicily. Phsedrus fays when a 
houfe fell upon the guefts at a feaft, the 
gods fpared the life of Simonides. He 
obtained a prize in the eightieth, and fur- 
vived to the ninetieth year of his age. 
The Syracufans erecled a monument to 

his 



CLASSICAL LEARNING, 



09 



his memory. His ftyle was fo formed for 
exciting pity, that fome critics have de- 
clared him in that refpecT:, to excel all 
other writers. Plato mentions him with 
praife, and Dionyfius places him amongft 
thofe polilhed writers who excel in a 
fmooth volubility, and flow like plenteous 
and perennial ftreams. 

The ftory of Danae enclofed in a cheft 
with her infant Perfeus, and thrown into 
the fea by her father, is related by the 
poet in very beautiful verfes. 

The following is, I fear, an inadequate 
attempt at a tranflation 1 

** While forrow chills thy mother's bread, 

Sleep feals thy lovely eyes my boy ; 
Clofe cradled in thy darkfome cheft, 

No fears thy innocence annoy. 
Unheard, the winds around thee howl, 

The waves unfeen their fury try ; 
Enveloped in thy purple dole, 

Sweet fleep can all their power defy. 
Did'ft thou the impending danger know, ' 

And fears that rack a parent's heart, 
Then would 'ft thou liften to my woe, 

And from thy peaceful {lumbers Hart. 

But 



IIO COMMENTARIES ON 

But flill fleep on my beauteous child, 

Ye waves to Halcyon calm fubfide J 
Sleep too my griefs, left accents wild 

Should wake and fcare my darling pride. " 

From thefe poets, of whom fo few frag- 
ments remain, we pafs on to one who is 
immortalized by all the devotees of plea- 
fure, and whofe name will probably de- 
fcend to pofterity, with thofe authors who 
have deferved to be remembered by the 
utility of their labors. About five hun- 
dred and thirty years before Chrift, Ana- 
creon was born at Teos in Ionia. This vo- 
luptuous bard feems to have had no other 
ambition, than to love and to fport ; no 
other defire of glory than to fing his loves 
and his joys. Plato will have him to have 
been royally defcended from Codrus the 
lail king of Athens ; if that account be true, 
his fpirit was perfectly different from that 
of his progenitor. He lived a long time 
at Samos in the court of Polycrajes, who 
was a tyrant only in name. This prince 
prefented him with five talents, which 

witb. 



CLASSICAL LEARNING, 



III 



with a difintereftednefs equal to the muni- 
ficence of his patron, he refufed. He is 
laid to have been a martyr in the caufe he 
adored, and to have been choked by a 
grape ftone in the eighty-fifth year of his 
age. His poetry is replete with fuch deli- 
cacy and grace, as to render all attempts 
to tranflate it into the Englifh language 
unfatisfa5tory : a language encumbered 
with coarie confonants, can never exprefs 
the fweet ftrains of Anacreon. He does 
not write in the formal manner of a per- 
fon who means to attract the public eye, 
but he appears at table with his Grecian 
beauties, where flowers are interwoven 
in his locks, and he joins them in the 
dance with all the frolic gaiety of youth. 

Sometimes he affumes his lyre, and in 
Lydian ftrains, he pours forth a hymn to 
the rofe. 

I hefitate in prefenting the following 
Odes from a tranflation of this enchanting 
poet. 



" The rofe, love's favorite flower divine, 
ShaT grace our circling bowls of wine $ 



With 



112 COMMENTARIES ON 

With its fair leaves our temples bound, 
The toaft and laugh fhall both go round. 
Rofe, fweeteft flower, fpring's partial love, 
Delight of all the gods above ; 
With thee, the boy of Venus crowned, 
The Graces joins in mazy round. 
Crown me, and inflant, God of wine, 
Strains from my lyre fhall reach thy fhrine : 
Whilft decked with rofes, I prepare, 
To trip it with the well-made fair." 

If he fpeaks of age or of death, it is not 
to brave them with Stoic apathy, but to 
exhort himfelf to lofe nothing of all that 
can difrobe them of their terrors. 

u Care fleeps whene'er I drink my wine. 
Then why thus anxioufly repine ? 
Since fadnefs cannot death defer, 
Why does my life from reafon err. 
With Bacchus let us revels keep, 
For while we drink our forrows fleep." 

Sometimes he invites his miftrefs to a de- 
lightful retreat, fuch as would furnifh 
a fainter with a fubje£t for his art. 

u Sit in this fhade : the lovely tree 
Expands its tender leaves for thee : 
Soft is each branch that on it grows, 
Hard by, Perfuafjon's fountain flows : 

So 






CLASSICAL LEARNING. 1 1 J 

So exquifite a lodging nigh, 
Who in his fenfes would pafs by V 

It is an opinion I am not likely to fur- 
render, that whoever would perceive the 
foftnefs of the colouring, the happy mix* 
ture of light and fhade, the eafy, fimple 
graces of Anacreon, will find them only in 
the original compofition. 

In quitting Anacreon to contemplate the 
firft of lyric poets, the tranfition is parti- 
cularly ftriking. 

Boeotia boafts the nativity of Pindar, 
who lived at the time of the expedi- 
tion of Xerxes, about four hundred and 
eighty years before our Saviour, and 
was then about forty years old. 

Paufanias fays, that the inhabitants of 
Delphi were commanded by an oracle of 
Apollo, to fet apart for Pindar, one half 
of the firft-fruit offerings brought by the 
religious to his fhrine, and to allow him a 
place in his temple. The iron chair in 
which he was accuftomed to fit, and fing 
his hymns in honor of the god, was fhewn, 
to Paufanias many centuries after, as a re- 
I lie 



3 14 COMMENTARIES ON 

lie not unworthy the fan&ity of the place. 
Unhappily for the learned world, his hymns 
to the heathen deities are loft, and his 
odes only remain, Horace fays of this 
poet, that to relifh him thoroughly, we 
ought to tranfport ourfelves to the time in 
which he lived. 

The theory is indifputable, but the 
pradttce is difficult. We are fo full of 
modern ideas, manners, and prejudices, 
that we do not eafily obey any admoni- 
tions to defert them. The account of 
Hercules and Thefeus, the adventures of 
Cadmus, and the war of the giants, the 
Olympic games, and the Argonautic expe- 
dition, do not touch us as they did the 
Greeks ; and the odes which contain only 
allufions to thefe ftories, are not fufficient- 
ly ftriking to excite any very pleafurable 
emotions in us : but the hiftory of their 
country would be fupremely interefting to 
the Greeks; and while their fables were 
in a great degree their hiftory, they alfo 
contained the eflfence of their religion. 
The -Olympic, Ifthmian, Pythian, and 

Nemean 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 



"5 



Nemeaix games, were all in their origin, 
religious a£ts; folemn feftivals in honor of 
their gods. The poet therefore a£ted 
agreeably to the fentiments of the people, 
when he blended the names of the deities 
who prefided over thefe games, with thofe 
of the Athletse who triumphed at them. 
The enraptured hearers have been falfely 
fuppofed to have difpenfed with the regu- 
lar order of compofition, and willingly to 
have furrendered method and clearnefs to 
harmony of numbers, and fublimity of 
di&ion. Congreve on the other hand fays 
that " there is nothing more regular than 
the odes of Pindar, both as to the exad 
obfervation of the meafures and numbers 
of his ftanzas and verfes, and the perpetual 
coherence of his thoughts. For though 
his digreffions are frequent, and his tranf- 
itions fudden, yet is there ever fome fecret 
connexion, which though not always ap- 
pearing to the eye, never fails to commu- 
nicate itfelf to the understanding of the 
reader." The firft Pythian ode of Pindar 
was compofed in honor of Hiero, king of 
I 2 Syracufe, 



tl6 COMMENTARIES ON 

Syracufe, a vidor in a chariot race. Of 
fuch fpe&acles the Greeks were fo ena- 
moured, that they could not fufficiently 
celebrate him who had procured himfelf 
the beft coachmen and the fleeted horfes ; 
for to thefe, after all, the praife of vi&ory 
was due. 

From an invocation to his lyre, and a 
defcription of the effe&s produced by its 
delightful harmony, he pafles on a fudden 
to the defcription of Typhaeus, the terror 
of the gods ; at length after numerous 
conflicts, chained under Mount iEtna. 

•i Now under fmoking Cuma's fulphurous coafl, 

And vaft Sicilia, lies his tortured breaft, 
By fnowy iEtna, nurfe of endlefs froft, 

The mighty prop of Heaven, for ever preft : 
Forth from whofe flaming caverns ifTuing rife 

Tremendous fountains of pure liquid fire, 
Which veil in muddy mift the noon -day fkies ; 

While wrapt in fmoke the eddying flames afpire, 
Or gleaming through the night with hideous roar, 
Far o'er the reddening main huge rocky fragments roar.'* 

West. 

Hiero reigned over Sicily, it was natu- 
ral therefore for the poet who mentioned 

Mm 



CLASSICAL LEARNING, 



II 7 



iEtna to fpeak of Typhseus, and thus to 
gratify the paffion of the Greeks for de- 
fcriptive poetry. 

Every vi&or at the public games was 
folicitous to have Pindar for his panegyrift, 
which accounts for the great number of 
odes written by him on the fame occafion. 
Certainly there cannot be a ftronger tefti- 
mony of his extraordinary powers, than 
is deducible from the manner in which 
fimilar fcenes are reprefented to the reader. 
His exalted ideas of the deity are worthy 
to be imprinted on the mind of a chriftian. 
" God dire&s all events according to his 
will ; God who feizes the towering eagle in 
his flight, outruns the marine dolphin, 
overthrows proud mortals, and beftows^ 
a never-fading glory on the humble." 

In the third Pythian he fays, 

«* His burning thunderbolt is winged with death." 

The odes contain many references to 
hiftorical facts, which have not defcended 
to our times ; many allufions to perfons 
and places of which we have never heard ; 
and thefe throw fometimes a veil of ob- 

1 3 fcurity 



Il8 COMMENTARIES ON 

fcurity over them, through which we can* 
not penetrate. 

But good fenfe defies the obliterations 
of time, and the judicious reflections and 
the moral fentiments of Pindar, atone 
for the obfcurity of particular parts. 

He is not lefs celebrated for the tender- 
nefs than for the fublimity of his fenti- 
' ments. It is impoffible to read many paf- 
fages without being fenfibly affe&ed by 
them ; as where the aged JEfon recognifes 
his fon Jafon, an all accomplished youth 
whom he had lamented as dead ; or where 
Antilochus rufhes with eagernefs againft 
Memnon, and gives himfelf a willing facri- 
fice to fave the life of his father Neftor — an 
a&ion which has carried with it the renown 
of piety throughput all fucceeding ages. 

He yields a due eulogium to conquerors 
of the loweft order, and with a noble fpi^ 
tit of independence difdains to be the flat- 
terer of kings. To them his admonitions 
are bold and forcible : <c Be juft in all your 
actions, faithful in all your words, and 
jremember that $ioufands of witnefles have 

their 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 



119 



their eyes fixed upon you." Pindar teaches 
us, with the wifdom of the philofopher, to 
be contented with our ftation, and to pre- 
fer mediocrity to greatnefs ; with the mo- 
ralift to cultivate truth, and to pradtife fin- 
cerity, and to leave to pofterity the exam- 
ple of a fpotlefs name. He concludes 
that the firft of human bleffings is to be 
virtuous, the fecond to be praifed ; and 
that the man who at the fame time enjoys 
both thefe diftinftions, is arrived at the 
fummit of earthly felicity. 

-* f The firft, the greateft blifs on man conferr'd, 

Is in the acts of virtue to excel ; 
The fecond to obtain their high reward, 

The foul- exalting praife of doing well. 
Who both thefe lots attains is blefs'd indeed. 
Since fortune here below can give no richer meed." 

As a poet his vigorous genius is 
bold, irregular, and impetuous. When 
he foars to heaven, it is with the eagle's 

Sight, 

ie With terror in his beak, and lightning in his eye." 

When he ruflies amidft the lifts of man, it; 
is with the fury of the w T ar-horfe, 



M 



« Whofe 



120 COMMENTARIES ON 

" Whofc neck is clothed with thunder," 

The images he ufes are fublime, and the 
didion is refplendent. He gives an air of 
majefty to all his fubjeds, fo that the rea- 
der is raifed from the grofs atmofphere of 
earth, and conveyed into regions of empy- 
rean purity. It is faid by Weft that his 
faults are the excefs of his acknowledged 
beauties, of his poetical imagination, his 
warm and enthufiaftic genius, his bold and 
figurative expreffion, his concife and fen- 
tentious ftyle. 

The praifes he beftowed on the vidors 
in the plains of Olympia, were at once an 
excitement and a reward of their patriot- 
ifm. They recalled to their memory their 
recent vidories over the Perfians, and ani- 
mated them to every gallant deed in de- 
fence of their liberty. Indeed the exercifes 
in general of the Grecian youth, were in- 
tended to render them ftrenuous defenders 
of their country. 

The beauty of Corinna might win from 
him thofe prizes which were not due to her 

compositions ; 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. tit 

compofitions ; but while he furpaffed every 
other competitor in the public affemblies of 
Greece, it might be no difgrace to Apollo 
to (hare with him the offerings of his al- 
tar. 

Pofthumous honors are not only a tri- 
bute of juftice, but an incitement to lauda- 
ble emulation. The nobleft employment 
of ancient ftatuary was to perpetuate the 
memory of the deferving ; and fix cen- 
turies after his death, Paufanias faw with 
admiration the tribute which the Thebans 
had paid to their countryman. His worth 
is fealed by the atteftation of enemies, as 
well as by the enduring record of his 
friends, Dionyfius Halicarnaflus fays that 
Pindar is admirable for the choice of his 
words and of his thoughts : that he has 
grandeur, harmony, copioufnefs, order, 
vigour in his expreffions ; and all this ac- 
companied with a certain gravity and 
force, but always mixed with an agreeable 
fweetnefs : that he is wonderful in his fen- 
tences, his energy, his figures, his addrefs 
in exprefling the manners, his amplifica- 
tions. 



122 COMMENTARIES ON" 

tions, his elocution ; and above all for that 
integrity of mind which appears in his 
writings ; where temperance, piety, and 
greatnefs of foul are difplayed throughout. 
The teftimony to his tranfcendant merit 
given by the firft of Roman lyric poets, in 
the fourth ode of his fecond book, deferves 
our recollection. 

tf He who afpires to reach the towering height 
• Of matchlefs Pindar's heaven -afcending {train, 
Shall fink, unequal to the arduous flight ; 
Like him who, falling, named the Icarian main. 
Frefumptuous youth ! to J tempt forbidden flues, 
And hope above the clouds on waxen plumes to rife 
Pindar, like fome fierce torrent fwollen with mowers 
Or fudden cataracts of melting fnow, 
Which from the Alps its headlong deluge pours 4 
And foams and thunders o'er the vales below, 
With deultory fury borne along, 
Rolls his impetuous, vaft, unfathomable fong." 

Francis* 

Let us hear top our own unrivalled 
Britifli poet j 

f Four fwans fuftain a car of filver bright, 

With heads advanced, and pinions ftretched for flight 5 
Here, like forne furious prophet, Pindar rode, 
And feemed to labour with the infpiring god« 
Acrofs the harp, a carelefs hand he flings, 
And boldly finks into the founding firings, 

Tfcs 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 



123 



The figured games of Greece the column grace ; 
Neptune and Jove furvey the rapid race. 
The youth hang o'er their chariots as they run ; 
The fiery fteeds feem flarting from the Hone ; 
The champions in diftorted poflures threat 5 
And all appears irregularly great." 

Temple of Fame; 

When the Spartans razed the city of 
Thebes, they fpared the houfe which Pin-* 
dar had inhabited, and Alexander difplay- 
ed a fimilar veneration for the prince of ly- 
rifts. 

How infignificant then is the influence 
of climate on the genius and character of 
pian, fince Bceotia can boaft of Epaminoiw 
flas as its hero, and of Pindar as its poet L 



124 COMMENTARIES ON 



SECTION IV, 

Greek Tragedy. The/pis, JEfchylus, Sophocles^ 
Euripides, 

I ragedy was in its origin only a ruftic 
fong in honor of Bacchus, who had found 
put the fecret of drawing wine from the 
grape. 

The god is fabled to have communicated 
the invention to Icarius, an inhabitant of 
Attica, who one day obferving a goat in the 
act of deftroying his vines, facrificed him 
to his benefactor. The peafants who were 
witneffes of the fcene, danced round the 
victim ; and this cafual frolic became an 
annual cuftom, and in procefs of time a 
very folemn rite. 

In ruftic antiquity all was facred ; fports 
and amufements were converted into fefti- 
vals, and temples were frequently meta- 
morphofed into theatres. The prize con- 
tended 



CLASSICAL LEARNING, 



125 



tended for by the earlieft poets was a cafk 
of wine; and the Bacchic hymn, fince called 
tragedy, was denominated the fong of the 
cafk or of the vintage. 

The progrefs of the drama to perfe&ion 
was regular, but flow. To relieve the 
finger from the preflure of fatigue, Thefpis, 
a native of Icaria, above five hundred and 
thirty years before Chrift, introduced a 
fingle a£tor on the ftage who perfonated 
fome hero, and pronounced a difcourfe 
which was called an epifode. Improving 
on this fimple plan, he exhibited the fame 
fpeaker in various parts of the imperfect 
drama, as the narrator of an uniform ftory* 
For this purpofe he ere&ed a temporary 
ftage upon a cart, and conveyed his rough 
machinery from town to town, where the 
faces of his a£tors fmeared with the lees of 
wine, were the amufement and admiration 
of 3, people fond of pleafure, but as yet un- 
enlightened by tafle. 

iEfchylus not long pofterior to Thefpis, 
muft however be regarded as the true in-* 
venter of tragedy. He was born in Attica, 

of 



126 COMMENTARIES ON 

of an old and honorable family, and divided 
his time between philofophy, war, and the 
theatre. He was initiated in the docTxine 
of Pythagoras ; he was prefent at the battle 
of Salamis, and wounded on the plains of 
Marathon. The triumphs of his country, 
therefore, he was well able to celebrate on 
the ftage ; and in his tragedy of the Per- 
sians, he difplayed a vi&ory in which him- 
felf had borne no inconfiderable part. 
Abftra&ed from the nature of the fubje&s 
which were reprefented, tragedy mull have 
produced a far more powerful effecl: upon 
the Greeks than on the moderns. 

It was exhibited by the magiftrates to the 
whole collective body of the people in an 
immenfe amphitheatre. So mild was the 
air, that no other canopy than that of 
fimple linen was required, and while the 
magnificence of the ftrudure captivated the 
eye, the ear was charmed by the declama- 
tion of the actors, which was fuited to a 
regular rhythm and movement given by 
*an orcheftra of wonderful extent. When 
we add to this, that the events they cele- 
13 brated 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. I27 

brated were domeftic, and the heroes their 
own countrymen, that the epochs were 
ever prefent to their memory, becaufe the 
details were the leflbns of their childhood, 
we (hall no longer be furprifed at the eager 
intereft which was felt by the Greeks in 
fcenical entertainments. 

To poetical genius, iEfchylus joined a 
fpirit inventive of every thing that regards 
mechanifm and theatrical decoration. He 
formed thofe majeftic robes which the mi- 
nifters of the altar borrowed for the cere- 
monies of religion. The theatre ornamented 
with the beft paintings of the time, repre- 
fented all objects conformably to the rules 
and effects of perfpe&ive. The ancient, 
like the modern ftage, exhibited temples, 
fepulchres, armies, fleets, flying cars, and 
apparations. He inftituted a choir of figure 
dancers, and was the creator of panto- 
mime. 

The apparatus of the theatre was analo- 
gous, and indeed neceffary to its fize. The 
a&ors were mounted on ftilts ; the mafks 
they wore, augmented the natural founds of 

the 



128 COMMENTARIES ON 

the voice, and veflels of brafs placed in the 
concavities of the theatre, re-echoed them 
in a manner and degree altogether incon- 
ceivable by us. The whole tended to form 
a fpedacle which enchanted a people whofe 
fouls were equally fenfible to harmony and 
alive to glory. 

When iEfchylus added a fecond a&or to 
the individual reciter of Thefpis, Dialogue 
the germ of tragedy began ; before this 
innovation, the exhibition was only a fpe- 
cies of epic poetry, but the tranfition from 
the epopee to tragedy was more natural and 
eafy than from the fimple chorufles of 
Bacchus to the invention of Thefpis. 

If delufion be at all neceflary to the 
audience of a theatre, they would be with 
lefs difficulty deceived into the opinion that 
the reprefeatation was a reality when two 
adors were introduced, than when the 
fame ador played firft the part of Aga- 
memnon and then of Achilles. 

Homer, under the guidance of a fuperior 
underftanding, feleded one fubjed which 
he has conduded through the whole of his 

5 poem. 



CLASSICAL LEARNING, 



129 



poem. The fame principle actuated iEf- 
chylus in the choice of one grand, illus- 
trious, interefting action. He knew that 
tragedy is but an epic poem abbreviated, 
that they chiefly differ in the developement 
of the fubjedfc, that the former ought to be 
lefs charged with incidents, and more lively 
than the latter. The military genius of 
iEfchylus is evident in his works ; and he 
was indebted to his martial profeffion for 
his acquittal before the Areopagus, when 
accufed by the priefts for exhibiting the 
myfteries of religion upon the ftage. The 
wounds he had received at Marathon, 
pleaded his caufe better than his inno* 
cence. 

When far advanced in life, Sophocles, 
then only twenty- four years of age, became 
his fuccefsful competitor in a poetical con- 
teft. He then quitted his country, and 
retired to the court of Hiero king of Sicily, 
the friend and protector of literary men. 
Here he died in the fixty-flfth year of his 
age ; and the credulity of the times liftened 
to a tale, that an eagle miftaking his bald 

K head 



I30 COMMENTARIES ON 

head for a ftone, dropped a tortoife upon 
it to break the fhell, which inftantly de- 
ftroyed him. 

Of nearly a hundred tragedies written 
by jElchylus, only feven have come down 
to us; and on thefe, by different critics, 
extravagant cenfure and unqualified praife 
have been beftowed. It has been faid that 
they all favour of the infancy of the art, 
and that their beauties are more thofe of an 
epic poem than of tragedy. That the plan 
of the Prometheus is monftrous ; that the 
Perfians is without any trace of action or 
plot ; that the Agamemnon is coldly atro- 
cious ; that the Coephori is nothing but the 
well known fubjecT: of Electra and Oreftes ; 
and that the Furies is more eftranged from 
our manners than the Prometheus ; that 
the Suppliants is a very abfurd ftory, and 
that the Seven Chiefs at Thebes, except in 
the chorufles, is extremely tedious. 

Thefe ftri&ures do not proceed from the 
coldnefs of criticifm, but from the gall of 
fatire. 



It 



CLASSICAL LEARNING* 1 $i 

It may give us fome idea of the eftima- 
tion in which iEfchylus was holden by his 
contemporaries, when we are informed 
that forty of his tragedies were rewarded 
with the public prize ; and this is an une- 
quivocal teftimony of his extraordinary 
merit. 

So powerful was the erFe£fc of his genius 
in exciting martial ardor, that the people 
marched immediately from the theatre to 
the battle of Marathon. The engines of 
terror were fo much at his command, that 
many perfons died at the exhibition of the 
Furies. The Agamemnon, the Coephori, 
and the Furies, form one complete ftory. 
Agamemnon had promifed his wife Cly- 
temneftra that if he fhould take Troy, he 
would apprize her of it by a burning torch 
placed on an eminence, which was to be 
repeated by other torches till the light 
fhould reach to Argos. The information 
thus communicated by this telegraph of 
ancient times, and his arrival with his 
captive CafTandra, the prophetic daughter 
K 2 of 



I32 COMMENTARIES ON 

of Priam, were not fo defired by Clytem- 
neftra as the news of his defeat. 

With the affiftance of iEgifthus, her 
paramour, fhe projects and perpetrates the 
murder of her hufband ; and this tragedy, 
written when iEfchylus was in the decline 
of life, deferved the high applaufe and re- 
ward which it received. The paflions are 
carried to the higheft pitch, the prophecies 
of Caflandra are terrific to the greateft 
degree. Such are her agonies of divination, 
that we contemplate with filent wonder, 
an human imagination capable of furnifh- 
ing her with the ideas, and with words to 
give them utterance. 

In the Agamemnon, the crime is punifh- 
ed only by thefe predi&ions ; but we find 
the continuation and the dreadful cata- 
ftrophe in the Coephori and the Furies, 
which depi&ure the revenge of Oreftes on 
the murderers of his father, his madnefs, 
and his re-eftablifhment on the throne. 

The opening of the Coephori, or carriers 
of libations to the tomb of Agamemnon, 

i$ 



CLASSICAL LEARNING, 



I33 



is Angularly ftriking and noble ; the vene- 
ration paid by the Greeks to the memory 
of their parents, and the ceremonies which 
attended their funerals, ftill excite agreeable 
fenfations in the feeling mind, although 
every trace of fuperftition has departed. 

When Oreftes implores Jupiter to aid 
him in his projedt of vengeance, the force 
and energy of his expreffions feem to defy 
tranflation. The fufpenfe, the hopes and 
fears of Ele&ra till Oreftes appears ; his 
eloquent prayer to Jupiter, after the firft 
tranfports of their meeting to preferve the 
few relics of an illuftrious family ; the 
conflict which pafles in his bread between 
the defire of obeying the oracle and fatif- 
fying his revenge, and the confcioufnefs of 
the dreadful punifhment which would re- 
fult to himfelf from his obedience to the 
god ; thefe various emotions of tendernefs, 
filial piety, indignation, and terror, have 
feldom been exhibited in a more impreffive 
manner, and are fufficient to evince that 
iEfchylus was a mafter of the tragic art, 

K 3 and 



134 COMMENTARIES ON 

and capable of producing in his audience 
thofe effeds which hiftory has recorded. 

If there appear fomewhat of abfurdity 
in the plan and condud of the Furies, ftill 
it difplays an ancient and noble painting 
of the remorfe which flings a guilty con- 
fcience. Do not imagine, fays the Roman 
orator, as you fee reprefented in fables, 
that thofe who have committed any thing 
impious, are really terrified and agitated by 
the torches of Furies. Their own wicked- 
nefs, their own fears, are the furies that 
torment them; their own crimes affeft 
them with madnefs; their own evil thoughts 
and confcioufnefs affright them ; thefe are 
to the impious conftant and domeftic 
furies, which day and night demand from 
wicked children the punifhments due to 
them by their parents. The fubjeft of 
thefe tragedies has produced more than a 
temporary intereft ; fince, befides being con- 
tended for by the three Greek tragedians, 
it has been reprefented with general ap- 
probation on modern theatres. 

The 



CLASSICAL LEARNING, 



*3S 



The Seven Chiefs at Thebes poffeffes 
beauties of a very appropriate kind. The 
chonnTes, one of the moll brilliant parts 
of iEfchylus, are here particularly admira- 
ble. The piece is full of noble trait?, and 
warlike movements ; the fufpenfions are 
extremely affecting, and the fpectacle it 
exhibits is truly aftoniming. 

The fubjecT: of the Perfians is the defeat 
of that people at the battle of Salamis. If 
it be read by us with indifference, we can 
eafily acquiefce in the applaufe bellowed 
upon it by the Athenians. 

Its recitals, defcriptions, prefages, dreams, 
and lamentations, which now appear tedi- 
ous and infipid from the abfence of a corn- 
plicated plot, called forth correfpondent 
paffions in contemporary fpe&ators, and 
gratified that ardent love of their country 
which every circum (lance they faw tended 
to excite within their bofoms. 

The Prometheus combines tendernefs 
with elevation and grandeur. The uncon- 
querable fpirit of the fon of Japetus, ex- 
hibits a fpecies of the fublime very different 
K 4 from 



I36 COMMENTARIES ON 

from that fortitude which refults from firm- 
nefs of nerves or inflexible obftinacy of mind. 
He whom misfortune cannot fubdue, and 
whom torture cannot move ; he who pro- 
feflTes to refill the tyranny of a cruel deity, 
and braves every effort of his power, the 
vulture that tears, and the lightening that 
blafts, difplays a chara&er fo far fuperior 
to that which common life prefents, either 
in the philofopher or the hero, that we 
regard him with the veneration due to 
unexampled magnanimity. 

If iEfchylus be fometimes obfcure, he is 
very often fublime ; if his plots be inarti- 
ficial, his charaders are well fuftained. He 
thoroughly underftood the difpofitions of 
the Athenians ; he knew them to be fond 
of liberty, idolaters of their country and of 
their cuftoms, and difdainful or indifferent 
about thofe of other nations. 

If the fubje&s he treated were fimple, 
they were interefting ; if few in number, 
they were feleded with judgment. On the 
Grecian ftage, we muft not look for love or 
galantry. The fpe&ators, political and 

ambitious 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. I37 

ambitious in their views and their purfuits, 
would have been fhocked at the reprefenta- 
tion of paffions unworthy the majefty of 
the tragic theatre. The overthrow of 
ftates, the fplendor of republics, the conflid 
of the higher paffions, were objedts con- 
formed to their character. The writings 
of iEfchylus received perhaps a colour from 
his profeffion as a foldier. They are vivid, 
bold, and impetuous ; and have been refem- 
bled to a torrent which rolls down rocks, 
fore its, and precipices. 

If his language be fometimes too figura- 
tive, if his epithets be occafionally too 
harfh, ftill the claffic can never forget the 
obligations which he owes to him who firft 
introduced dialogue on the ftage, re&ified 
the office of the chorus, produced the beau- 
ties of fcenic decoration, and mult ever be 
confidered as the great inventor of the 
ancient drama. When the prize was voted 
to Sophocles in preference to him, he ap- 
pealed from the fentence of the judges to 
the opinion of pofterity, who decreed that 
his tragedies fhould be performed at the 
4 public 



I38 COMMENTARIES ON 

public expence. A ftatue and a painting 
which defcribed his conduct at Marathon, 
confecrated his memory at Athens. 

SOPHOCLES. 

Sophocles was born at Colone, a town 
of Attica, four hundred and ninety-feven 
years before the birth of Chrift. 

It is rather a remarkable co-incidence, 
that both he and iEfchylus acquired repu- 
tation in arms as well as in poetry, So- 
phocles was a commander in the army of 
Pericles, and was elevated to the dignity of 
archon, the firft honor in the republic of 
Athens. He is faid to have written one 
hundred and twenty tragedies, of which 
ieven only remain. In domeftic life he 
was lefs fortunate than in his public career ; 
his children, difappointed in their eager 
wiflies for his death, and folicitous for the 
immediate poffeffion of his fortune, ac- 
cufed him of infanity before the Areo- 
pagus. 



He 



CLASSICAL LEARNING, 



*39 



He was acquitted by reading to his 
judges his play of OEdipus at Colone, which 
reprefents an old man defpoiled by his 
children. More flexible and indulgent 
than OEdipus, he forgave their crime, and 
admitted them again to his favor. 

He lived to the age of ninety, and is 
reported to have died through excefs of 
joy at having obtained a prize in the 
Olympic games. 

Sophocles added a third fpeaker to the 
dialogue, and advanced the drama in every 
refpect to perfection. He has no unnecef- 
fary prologues or epifodes, no violations of 
probability. His explanations are fine, his 
plans fagacious, his dialogues noble and 
animated. His ftyle is never too figura- 
tive like that of iEfchylus, nor too familiar 
like that of Euripides. The language of 
nature, and the eloquence of misfortune, 
are often with him carried to the higheft 
point of excellence. Such is the language 
of the panegyrifts of Sophocles; and it 
mud be confefled, upon a review of his 

writings,. 



I40 COMMENTARIES ON 

writings, that the ftyle of panegyric is the 
voice of truth. 

Ariftotle defines tragedy to be an imita- 
tion of fome action that is important, 
entire, and of a proper magnitude, by em- 
bellifhed language, effecting through terror 
and pity, the correction and refinement of 
the paffions. 

In the Eumenides the chorus confifted of 
fifty furies, whofe habits, gefture, and 
whole appearance, was by the art of the 
poet rendered fo formidable as to frighten 
the whole audience. A decree was im- 
mediately iffued to limit the number 
of the chorus. The chorus filled up 
the vacant parts of the drama, particu- 
larly in an affecting tragedy, better than 
the jigs of an Englifh orcheftra, which 
break in upon and enfeeble the warmeft 
fenfations of the human heart, by a ftrange 
and unjuftifiable interruption. 

The play of QEdipus Tyrannus when 
brought to the teft, will be found fully to 
r.orrefpond with the definition given by the 

great 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. I4I 

great matter of criticifm. The ftory of a 
monarch of a neighbouring country, whofe 
misfortunes were unparalleled, muft have 
wonderfully interefted an Athenian au- 
dience ; for the perufal of it fixes the at- 
tention, and excites the fympathy of every 
reader, though ages have elapfed, and 
though the fcene of action is fo diftant. 

Of the proper decoration of tragedy, we 
cannot conceive a better idea than from 
the fcene that firft prefents itfelf. The 
view is fplendid and multiform : on one 
fide appears the royal palace with different 
profpe&s of Thebes : the peftilence which 
rages in the city has affembled a crowd of 
trembling citizens. On all fides groans of 
lamentation are heard, and the bodies of 
the dying and the dead obftrucl: the paflen- 
ger in the ftreets. Eager every where is 
the refort to the temples of the gods, and 
fuperftition alone affords a ray of hope to 
the wretched fuppliants. In the veftibule 
* of the palace a triple row of boys, of 
youths, and of priefts, is difcovered prof- 
trate at the altars. CEdipus, routed by the 

mournful 



I42 COMMENTARIES ON 

mournful clamour, comes forth, and then 
begins the moft interefting part of the dra- 
ma, namely the fable. 

We read of the fall of empires with lefs 
emotion than is excited by the woes of a 
fingle family ; nor does Virgil's account 
of the fatal night in which Troy fell, ftrike 
the mind with fimilar regret. 

The conduct of the fable is in every 
view correfpondent to the ftri&eft rules of 
the Stagyrite. From the prologue the 
mind is kept in an awful fufpence and 
dread ; the difcoveries are moft artfully 
conducted ; the revolutions are of the moft 
tremendous kind; and unexampled horror 
attends the cataftrophe. The manners are 
fuch as become the illuftrious perfonages of 
the drama; and as they always receive a 
tindure from the temper of the times, they 
ihew us that Athens was arrived at its high- 
eft ftate of politenefs in the time of Sopho- 
cles. He lived at the moft brilliant asra of 
the Athenians; in an age of grandeur, 
replete with the magnificence of riches, 
of monuments, and of fpedtacles ; an age of 

poets, 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. I43 

poets, philofophers, orators, hiftorians, 
heroes, and great men in every department, 
above all in that of tragedy ; and was one 
of the three contemporary authors who 
raifed it to its higheft eminence. 

The didion of the CEdipus Tyrannus is 
uniformly elegant ; the odes are fometimes 
highly beautiful, fometimes peculiarly fub- 
lime. The fentiments are fuch as become 
the fituation of all the fpeakers, and thofe 
of the chorus are the refult of benevolence, 
patriotifm, and piety. When CEdipus re- 
commends his children to the care of Creon, 
the heart of every parent is thrilled at his 
expreffions. 

** My fons are men, and wherefoever fortune 

May place them, cannot want the means of life ; 
They fhall not burthen thee : but, oh ! my friend,. 
What will become of my unhappy daughters, 
With tendereft love, beneath a father's hand 
Cherifhed fo long ? O take them to thy care, 
Thou beft of men ! O might I but embrace them j 
But med a tear o'er their difaftrous fate! 
Might I be fuffered but to touch them here, 
I mould rejoice, and think I faw them ftill." 

Franklin. 

7 The 



144 COMMENTARIES ON 

The introduction of mufic on the Gre- 
cian theatre, feems to have been attended 
with the beft effects. The reftricted cho- 
rus, confifting of fifteen perfons, always in- 
terefted in the fubject of the drama, fills 
up the vacuity of action, by addreffing the 
gods in fupplicating drains, or by uttering 
fentiments well worthy of a democratical 
people. 

If terror and pity be the true ingredients 
of tragedy, we cannot refufe our affent to 
the affertion of Scaliger, that the CEdipus 
Tyrannus is the moft tragical of all drama- 
tic c6mpofitions. 

But if the end of poetry be to inftrudt as 

welt as to pleale, I am bold enough to 

think that there is an objection againft the 

fable of CEdipus, and a defect in the re- 

quifites which Ariftotle demands. It leaves 

the mind in a ftate of abfolute defpair : the 

heart is not meliorated, the underftanding 

is not improved. It does not combine 

tragic effect with moral tendency; fofeTit 

enforces no important truths to regulate the 

conduct of human life, 

"It 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 145 

It is faid by Franklin, " that the play of 
Philo&etes, though extremely barren of 
dramatic incidents, and diverted of every 
theatrical ornament, abounds at the fame 
time in fuch amiable fimplicity, fuch 
ftrength of colouring, and propriety of 
character and manners, as may render it 
even more pleafing to the judicious and 
clafficai reader, than thofe plays of Sopho- 
cles where the fable is apparently more 
interefting." There is certainly more dif- 
ficulty in fpeaking to the heart by the ex- 
preffion of true fentimerits, than in gaining 
attention by a train of events. When we 
confider that this play is conftituted of 
only three per/onages in a defert ; that it 
never languifhes for an inftant, but, on the 
other hand, that the intereft rifes and fup- 
ports itfelf by the moft natural means ; that 
Philodetes is in himfelf one of the moft 
theatrical perfons we can conceive, uniting 
the greateft bodily miferies with refent- 
ments the moft natural; that the cry of 
vengeance is with him only the cry of op- 
preffion 5 in fhort, that his part is through- 

L OUt 



I46 COMMENTARIES ON 

out a perfed model of tragic eloquence § 
we fliall agree that thofe are juftified, who 
think they find in this piece the fineft 
dramatic invention which antiquity cm 
boaft. 

EURIPIDES. 

Euripides was about twelve years younger 
than Sophocles, and born at Salamis in the 
tXiidft of the fetes which celebrated the de- 
feat of Xerxes ; an event that has rendered 
the name of that ifland fo illuftrious. His 
birth was humble, but his eagernefs for 
literary acquifitions was very remarkable, 
Anaxagoras taught him natural philofo- 
phy, Prodicus inftru&ed him in rhetoric, 
and the great Socrates was his mafter in 
moral philofophy. 

To acquire the power of writing tragedy, 
he is faid to have fequeftered himfelf from 
the world, and to have lived for a confides 
able time in a wild and horrid cave, calcu- 
lated to infpire him with ideas of terror 
Tand fubHmity. The jealoufy natural to 

rivals 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. I47 

rivals exifted for a while between him and 
Sophocles ; but reflection, the frequent cor- 
reftor of the paffions, at length reconciled 
them, when they rendered reciprocal juftice 
to each other, and exhibited mutual proofs 
of unequivocal friendfhip. Envy and un- 
popularity, the too conftant attendants on 
genius, induced him to quit Athens, and to 
accept the invitation of Archelaus king of 
Macedon, to refide within the precincts of 
his court. Here he enjoyed the favor of 
royal munificence, and the tranquillity of 
learned eafe. But who has ever been able 
to boaft of continued happinefs ! Removed 
from the feat of competition and ridicule, 
he fuffered a domeftic calamity greater than 
ufually falls to the lot of man. He loft his 
wife and three children at one time, and 
the dire event is faid to have been always 
prefent to his mind. It had a powerful 
influence on his temper and his fpirit, and 
produced that plaintivenefs of manner 
which is fo confpicuous in his writings. 
Athenaeus fpeaks of an epigram written by 
l 2 him 



I48 COMMENTARIES ON 

him on the lofs of his family, of which 
this is the fenfe. " O fun, who travelleft 
over the immenfity of the heavens, haft 
thou ever feen fo dreadful a calamity ? 
What a mother and three children torn at 
once from my fight !* s In this fimple, pa- 
thetic, and afFe&ing ftyle, does he exprefs 
the feverity of his anguifh. 

His death was very unfortunate, for he 
was torn to pieces by the dogs of Arche- 
laus; but honors were heaped upon him 
when he was no longer confcious of their 
value. The Athenians demanded his body 
to give it an honorable burial, but Arche-? 
laus refufed to reftore it, being defirous to 
preferve to his country the remains of a 
great man ; and the Athenians were redu- 
ced to the honorable confolation of railing 
a cenotaph to his memory. 

A fmall but valuable portion of his plays, 
nineteen out of eighty, are come down to 
us : againft fome of thefe the voice of criti- 
cifm has been loudly indignant. The 
Bacchantes has been faid not to deferve the 

name 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 149 

name of tragedy, but to be a dramatic 
monfter without (hape or comelinefs; It 
is indeed, throughout, an eulogium on wine 
and temulence. 

The Suppliants has more of the tone of 
tragedy, but the fpecies of intereft it con- 
tains is purely national, and could not 
exift but among the Greeks. It is a ques- 
tion about burial, and Sophocles alone 
knew how to place in fcenes like thefe a 
fpecies of beauty that is equally ftriking and 
permanent. 

The Oreftes refembles an opera rather 
than a tragedy \ the marvellous is employ- 
ed without art, and the events are accumu- 
lated without preparation, and without ef- 
fect. 

The Medea has been imitated by a 
crowd of authors. There is in that bold 
forcerefs, a certain fpleador that captivates 
every beholder. The female character, ren- 
dered furious by the defertion of him for 
whom fhe had facrificed every thing, is 
enfeebled only by her crimes, and by the 
coldnefs of Jafon. 

l 3 Still 



*50 COMMENTARIES ON 

Still the refentments of a wife outraged 
by an ungrateful man, her defire of ven- 
geance, her maternal tendernefs, and the 
diffimulation with which fhe conceals her 
fell defigns, produce emotions fo terrific 
and fo pathetic, as to furnifh fcenes which 
have never been furpafTed. 

The Iphigenia in Aulis may be regarded 
not only as the mafter-piece of Euripides, 
but as the tragedy in which the dramatic 
art has reached the fummit of perfe&ion. 

The conteft between nature and ambi- 
tion, which forms the bafis of the chara&er 
of Agamemnon ; the joy which appears at 
the arrival of the mother and the daughter, 
a circumftance of heart-rending woe to the 
father ; the moving fcene between him and 
Clytemneftra ; the horror produced by 
Areas — u He attends at the altar for the 
facrifice ;" the pretended marriage of Achil- 
les ; the defpair of Clytemneftra proftrate at 
the feet of the only defender that remains 
to her daughter ; the noble indignation of 
the young hero whofe name is fo impro- 
perly ufurped ; the tranfports of maternal 

tendernefs 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. I5I 

tendernefs defending a daughter againft an 
inhuman hufband ; the modeft refigtiation 
of the victim, and the fervent and filial 
prayers fheaddrefles to her father; all thele 
beauties are the exclufive prerogative of 
Euripides. 

The character of Andromache irt the 
play which bears her name, that of Alcefte, 
that of Medea, manyfcenes of the Trojans, 
the three firft ads of the Hecuba, the two 
plays of Iphigenia, are monuments of a great 
genius, and vindicate Ariftotle in deno- 
minating Euripides the moft tragic of 
poets. 

If he want the fublimity of iEfchylus, if 
he do not pofleis the fweetnefs of Sopho- 
cles, he balances thefe advantages by fo 
much pathos and moral fentiment as to 
exhibit the moft touching fcenes of the 
Grecian drama. 

The following lines on the origin and 
progrefs of the drama, are fubmitted to the 
candour rather than to the criticifm of the 
reader : 

14 " Ere 



I52 COMMENTARIES ON 

" Ere art had fmoothed, or fcience had refined 
The unpolifh'd marble, and uncultured mind 
Where fam'd UyfTus rolled his filver tide, 
The Attic mufes rofe with patriot pride. 
Here firft Melpomene's foft bofom heav'd, 
Awaked to life, and triple aid received ; 
Here the beft patrons rear'd her tender form, 
And taught her mind to glow like nature warm ; 
Gave foft eyed Pity, poured Diftraction wild, 
And lent Perfuafion's tongue to Virtue's child. 
Thofe generous thoughts which patriot fouls engage, 
Were formed and cherifhed by the Athenian ftage ; 
Thofe arts which mark refinement's early dawn 
Here burft to light, and beamed a golden morn. 
The God of war appeared in vivid ftone, 
And beauty's queen in breathing canvas (hone. 
Yet rifing Commerce fcarce her fails unfurled, 
When Roman eagles fought the eaftern world ; 
Soon as they came, fierce rapine marked their way, 
: Sad was the fcene, for beauty was the prey ; 
Soon as they came, fell Conqueft flapped her wing, 
And every tuneful mufe forgot to fing ; 
Borne from their Greece to drag the victor's chains, 
And fwell triumphant pomp on Latian plains. 

Long did they mourn their native freedom loft, 
Their much loved patrons, and congenial coaft ; 
While Tyber's ftreams, with human blood fupplied, 
O'erflowed his banks, and rolPd inbarb'rous pride : 
The tragic mufe whom love had erft infpir'd 
Now felt her breaft by wildefl pafiions fir'd ; 
Caught the fierce manners of a Roman foul, 
The reeking dagger, and the poifon'd bowl ; 

Shewed 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. I53 

Shewed nature's laws* by cuftom's force withftood, 
And female foftnefs pleafed with fcenes of blood. 
This her fad tafk, till Latium's happier days, 
When every art received its meed of praife ; 
When every mufe might boaft a patron's name, 
And Rofcius claimed a fhare in Tully's fame ; 
Again fhe urged the liberal tear to flow, 
Nor virtue blufhed to weep at tales of woe ; 
No favage paflions Pity now dethrone, 
But all again is Attic, and her own. 

Awhile fhe grew beneath the foftering hand, 

Till Gothic fury fcoured corruption's land; 

When boding augurs fpoke the awful doom 

Of art and fcience, Majefty and Rome, 

Chafed from her feat, fhe drooped her Janguid head> 

Her charms forgotten, and her vigour/feed ; 



Campania's every elegance lay wafte, 

And the mufe flumbered through long nights of taHe. 

At learning's fecond dawn again fhe rofe, 

And genius refcued her from bigot foes 

With joy elate, from all reftraint fet free, 

Awhile fhe wantoned in her liberty. 

Her early patrons, formed in rougher mould, 

Approved her zonelefs vert, and geftures bold. 

In vain contending lovers fought her fmile, 

When Britain's guardian fhewed her Britain's ifle. 

She viewed the profpecl which his zeal difplay'd, 

And matchlefs beauties flruck the ravifh'd maid-* 

No more fhe mourns the fcenes of early love, 

Her Homer's martial fields, her Plato's grove ; 

No more llyfTus is her envied boaft, 

But freedom's fmiling plains and fea-girt coafl j 



TWM 



154 COMMENTARIES ON 

'Twas fhe who gave to Shakfpeare's deathlefs page* 
The glowing thoughts that fire the rifing age ; 
'Midft fcenic beauties bade the artiil trace 
The forms of fprightly eafe and heaven-born grace ; 
Taught the young fculptor's hand to ftamp the mien 
Of love's fly god, and beauty's peerlefs queen ; 
Well pleafed for Britain's ifle her Greece to quit 
Where Spartan virtue blends with Attic wit.*' 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. I55 



SECTION V. 

On Greek Comedy > the old y the middle ', and the new* 
Arijtophanesy Menander, and many Writers, of whom 
only Fragments are extant, 

As the manners are its obje&s, comedy, 
it is probable, would have preceded tra- 
gedy, which delineates the paffions, had 
not a cafual circumftance given priority to 
the latter. The drama was originally under 
the patronage of the magiftrates; and it 
was not till a late period that they exhibited 
comic choruffes to the people; but although 
many centuries elapfed before comedy was 
written, yet, a thoufand years anterior to 
Chrift, there were adors who played for 
their own advantage. Its complexion 
indeed was then of the moll extravagant 
kind. It was an extempore village mafk, 
where ignorance was invited to applaud 
the grotefque mimickry of the low and 
I impudent 



rj-6 COMMENTARIES OK 

impudent buffoon. The ancient comedy 
appeared utider three forms, and as many 
appellations. 

It is at this day not eafy to determine if 
it had only a fingle, or many contemporary 
inventors j but its mutations appear to 
have arifen riot only from tjie genius of the 
writers, but from the laws of magiftrates, 
and the change of the popular government. 
Sufarion and Dolon have been called the 
inventors of comedy, which was afted at 
Athens on a moveable fcafFold five hundred 
and fixty-one years before Chrift. But a 
ftatue of brafs ere&ed to Epicharmus, the 
Syracufan fchoolmafter, announces him, by 
the infcription on its pedeftal, to have been 
the firft writer of comedy. He lived four 
hundred and fifty years before Chrift, 
during the reign of Hiero the tyrant of 
Sicily, who punifhed him for certain im- 
proper jefts exhibited before his queen. 

All the ancient dramatic writers furnifh 
us with a fubjecl: of admiration in the num- 
ber of their works. Epicharmus is faid to 
have written fifty comedies ; and from the 
4 fpecimen 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 157 

fpecimen of his manner of writing, pre- 
ferved in a few fragments which have 
reached us, we have reafon to lament the 
lofs of the entire compofitions. The author 
of the Obferver has afforded much enter- 
tainment to all readers of curiofity and 
tafte, by prefenting them with many pieces 
from the ancient comic writers in an En- 
glim drefs. An occafional quotation from 
them will I think not be unacceptable to 
my readers, who, recolle&ing from whence 
they are copied, may perhaps apply to the 
fame fource for a larger portion of fimilar 
amufement. 

Epicharmus introduces a perfon of igno- 
ble birth, thus addreffing an old woman 
who had boafted of her anceftry 5 

<< Good goflip, if you love me, prate no more 5 
What are your genealogies to me ? 
Away to thofe who have more need of them ! 
Let the degenerate wretches if they can, 
Dig up dead honor from their fathers' tombs, 
And boaft it for their own. Vain, empty boaft ! 
When every common fellow that they meet, 
Jf accident hath not cut off the fcroll, 
Can fhew a lift of anceftry as long. 
You call the Scythians barbarous, and defpife them ; 

Yet 



I58 COMMENTARIES ON 

Yet Anacharfis was a Scythian born : 

And every man of a like noble nature, 

Though he were moulded from an iEthiop's loins, 

Is nobler than your pedigrees can make him." 

Epicharmus had four contemporary poets 
who were joint fathers of comedy, but 
not a veftige remains of their works. A 
decree which continued in force only two 
years, prohibiting the reprefentation of 
comedies, is a convincing proof of the 
fentiments of the magiftracy on the fubjed, 
if not of the licentioufnefs of the early dra- 
ma. It appears then that the comic mufe 
was not firft introduced, as Horace fays, 
but re-inftated under Eupolis, Cratinus, 
and Ariftophanes. Thefe writers of the 
old comedy, reprefented the habits, gef- 
tures, and airs of thofe whom they wifhed 
to expofe to public fcorn. Even perfonal 
defe£ts were not fecure from ftri&ures 
offeverity. Horace has drawn the cha- 
racter of thefe poets in a few mafterly 
ftrokes. 

M The comic poets in its earlieft age, 
Thus paint the manners of the Grecian ftage. 

Was 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. I59 

Was there a villain who might juftly claim, 
A better right of being doomed to fame, 
Jlake, cutthroat, thief, whatever was his crime, 
They freely ftigmatized the wretch in rhyme." 

Francis, 

But it was not the expofure of vice or 
folly, with which thefe writers were con- 
tented. Nothing was fpared in fo libertine 
a ftate as Athens, not even the firft magif- 
trates, nor the judges who had the power 
to fan&ion or profcribe the comedies. 

The works of Eupolis and Cratinus are 
loft ; of the former we have only the titles 
of twenty of his comedies, and a few frag- 
ments. It was his chara&er that he ter- 
rified vice by the feverity of his lafhes ; but 
he was deftitute of all purity and all grace 
of ftyle. He flourifhed about four hun- 
dred and thirty-five years before Chrift, but 
the fcanty memorials of ancient times fur- 
nifh us with no other particulars of his pro- 
feffion or his life. 

Cratinus was the countryman of Eupo- 
lis, and fomewhat his fenior. It is record- 
ed of him, that he abounded in imagina- 
tion, 



l6o COMMENTARIES ON 

tion, and was in pofleffion of an orna^ 
niented ftyle. He obtained nine prizes at 
the public games, and fuccefsfully repelled 
the attack of Ariftophanes, who had ridi-» 
culed his infirmities in a comedy denomi- 
nated the Flaggon. He obtained the laurel 
from his opponent, and fhortly after expi- 
red amidft the exultations of his victory. 
Thirty comedies, the effufions of his genius, 
have perifhed in the abyfs of time, and 
icarcelv left a wreck behind. 

Of the old comedy we fhould have 
known nothing but the name, had not a 
part of the writings of Ariftophanes been 
refcued from the ihade of oblivion. He 
was a native of jEgina, a fmall ifland near 
Peloponnefus, born about four hundred an<J 
thirty-four years before Chrift, and 1 acqui- 
red by his talents, what he had no legal 
title to by his birth, the privileges of a citi- 
zen of Athens. He flourifhed in an age of 
illuftrious men, when the philofophy of 
Socrates, the oratory of Demofthenes* and 
the drama of Euripides, were the admira- 
tion of the polifhed ftates of Greece. 

During 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. l6l 

During the Peloponnefian war, he ap- 
peared lefs as a comic writer whofe object 
it was to , amufe the people, than as a 
cenfor of their government, and a general 
reformer. 

Of above fifty comedies, eleven only 
have defcended to pofterity ; and of his cha- 
racter as a writer, it may perhaps be pro- 
per to form an accurate eftimate, by adopt- 
ing the mean between the two extremes 
of his cenfurers and his panegyrifts. 

It has been objected to him by the for- 
mer, that he is carelefs in the conduct of 
his fables, that his fictions are improbable 
and that his jefts are obfcene: that his 
raillery is rudenefs ; that his language is 
obfcure, embarraffed, low, and trivial ; 
that his frequent play upon words, and his 
mixture of ftyle tragic and comic, are in 
bad tafte. 

Plutarch fays that his poetry is a courte- 
san on the ftool of repentance, who affects 
the airs of a prude, but cannot place 
her impudence under fuch reftraints as to 
be pardoned by the people. That his fait 

M is 



l6*2 COMMENTARIES ON 

is bitter, (harp, cutting, and ulcerating. 
He much difapproves his puns and anti- 
thefes, and thinks his jokes more likely to 
excite a hifs than a laugh ; his amours lefs 
gay than indecent ; and in fhort that it is 
not fo much for fenfible people that he has 
written, as for men confumed by envy 
calumny, and debauchery. 

The enemies of his fame are however at 
lead balanced by the zeal of his admirers* 
The divine Plato, who was his contempo- 
rary, gives him a diftinguifhed place in his 
banquet ; and is reported to have fent a co^ 
py of the plays of Ariftophanes to Diony^ 
iius the tyrant, exhorting him to read them 
with attention, if he wifhed to know tho- 
roughly the republic of Athens. He adds 
this hyperbole of praife — that the graces 
fought for a durable manfion, and fixed 
at length in the bofom of Ariftophanes. 

His works are faid to have been refcued 
from the deftru&ion to which all the 
comic writers were deftined, by the tafte of 
St. Chryfoftom, who placed them under 
his pillow, as Alexander did the Iliad of 

Horner^ 






CLASSICAL LEARNING. 163 

Homer, to read them at night before he 
went to fleep, and in the morning at 
waking. 

A modern French encomiaft, Madame 
Dacier, (c fays that no man has had more 
art in finding the ridiculous, nor more 
adroitnefs in exhibiting it. That his man- 
ner is delicate, his fancy fertile, and his 
criticifm juft. That the Attic fpirit, of 
which the antients fo loudly boaft, appears 
more in Ariftophanes than iu any other 
author of antiquity. But that which we 
ought the mod to admire in him is, that 
he is always fo much maRer of rhe fubjecl: 
he treats, that without conftraint he finds 
the method of producing thofe events 
which at firft appeared the moft foreign to 
it. That his ftyle is as agreeable as his fpi- 
rit ; that befrdes its purity, neatnefs, and 
force, it has a certain fweetnefs which fo 
agreeably flatters the ear, that there is no- 
thing comparable to the pleafure of reading 
him. When on common topics, "he is not 
low ; when fublime, he rifes without ob- 
fcurity, and is then equal to iEfcftylus ansl 
M 2 tO 



164 COMMENTARIES ON 

to Pindar. Thar his wit is of various kinds, 
general and local; his powers of. humour 
unrivalled. That his iatire againft vice, 
leaves no fhelter to ignorance or immora- 
lity. That whoever has ftudied the re- 
mains of ancient Greece, but has not read 
Ariftophanes, cannot know all the charms 
and all the beauties of the language." 

Ariftotle defines comedy to be a picture 
of human nature worfe and more deform- 
ed than the original. The firft part of 
this definition only feems to be correct, 
and thofe critics who accufe Ariftophanes 
of adopting the latter part of it, feem to 
forget that the applaufe given to a writer 
by the general voice of his contemporaries, 
at a time when envy interpofes its baneful 
influence, may be confidered as the true 
teft of his merit. 

The comedies of Ariftophanes being 
written during the Peloponnefian war, an 
intimate acquaintance with the events of 
that period is required, to enable us tho- 
roughly to underftand his allufions. 

He 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. IO-j 

He has been much cenfured for his ridi- 
cule of Socrates. The fchools of the fophifts 
were fair objects of derifion ; their contra- 
dictory firfl principles, their demons, 
clouds, water, and fire ; their devices to 
catch the vulgar, and the affected rigour 
of their manners, were fit fubjects for the 
ftrictures of the fatirift. 

In the play of the Clouds, Arifcophanes 
laughs at the doctrine of the philofopher, 
and fhews how the cunning of his difciples 
might draw fuch inferences from it as 
would annihilate all fubordination, and give 
colour to every fpecies of difhonefty and 
fraud. The fon who beats his father, and 
who defrauds his creditors, arguing philo- 
fophically that he has a right to do fo, is an 
inftance of the facility with which the 
fcholars of Socrates could pervert the pre- 
cepts of their mailer. 

Although the interval between the re- 
prefentation of this play, and the trial of 
Socrates, was twenty-five years, it prepared 
the unjuft procefs againft that incompara- 
ble man, for the accufations of Anytus 
M 3 were 



1 66 COMMENTARIES ON 

were precifely the fame with thofe whicb 
the poet brings againft the philofopher. If 
it be obferved that fuch a fpe&acle of buf- 
foonery and impiety was never endured in 
any other nation, it may be anfwered that 
the Athenians, efcaped from the tyranny of 
the Pififtratides, pafied to the extreme of 
liberty, and to all the abufes of democracy. 
Thefe abufes were balanced by the patriot 
fpirit that animated all Greece at the mo- 
ment of the invafion of Darius and Xerxes. 
But as danger produced virtue, victory 
brought luxury and corruption in its train. 
Athens was the moft powerful, the richeft, 
the vaineft, and the moft difTolute of all 
the republics of Greece, in the time of 
Pericles, which was that of Ariftophanes. 

On the other hand, the Archons found 
the fchools fo detrimental to the morals of 
youth, that they expelled the m afters ; and 
the Lacedemonians, a grave and virtuous 
people, fuffered no philofophers to open, 
feminaries of education. 

It is the bu finds of comic writers to 
paint the manners as they rife. Thefe are 

perpetually 



CLASSICAL LEAKNING. 167 

perpetually changing : in paffing to pofte- 
rity, they come to a new world which does 
not recognife them ; the fame objects and 
the fame tafte of ridicule do not exift in 
diftant ages ; and hence it is that the mufe 
of Ariftophanes appears to us with the 
wildnefs of a bacchante, and that fhe feems 
to carry under her tongue the poifon of 
the viper or the afp. 

But is not comedy to be an image of 
common life ? Is it not her province to 
exhibit on the theatre the prevalent vices 
and follies of the age, and to correct them 
by the fear of ridicule ? 

Ariftophanes might plead the cuftom of 
the times, in vindication of his introducing 
individual characters into his drama. A 
better tafte prevailed a fhort time after, and 
it is more grateful to our feelings to fee 
general vices attacked upon the ftage, than 
the defects of particular perfons expofed to 
public derifion, 

<* Bond it but one,, but Harpax is a fcore. ,> 

M 4 It 



l68 COMMENTARIES ON 

It is not wonderful that Plutarch, a 
Greek, a courtier, and one who lived in the 
time of Trajan, fhould be offended with 
the ftyle of Ariftophanes. Its variations, 
however, were fuitable to the variety of his 
characters. Quintilian greatly approves 
the old comedy, and fays that it almoft ex- 
clufively retains the Attic purity ; that it 
is energetic, elegant, and graceful ; and, 
next to Homer, is better adapted to form 
the orator than any other compofition. 

But it muft be confeffed that mortifica- 
tion and chagrin ftimulated Ariftophanes to 
vilify the mod refpe&able characters. He 
hated and burlefqued Euripides, Socrates^ 
and Anaxagoras, becaufe they defpifed his 
comedies too much to attend the reprefen- 
tation of them, and denominated them 
fcandalous farces : perhaps they ought to 
have remembered, that comedy is the Have 
of the reigning tafte. Ariftophanes, as it is 
well faid by the author of the Obferver, 
" makes ufe of choruffes, fome fo fanciful 
and imaginary, as to be obliged to create 

as 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 169 

as it were a new language for them. Gods 
and heroes demand a fwelling tragic pomp, 
fuch as that of the tragedians ; and this ex- 
cellence is difcrimination of character. If 
we are allowed to argue and decide by 
events, we fhall not be difpofed to lavifli a 
large fhare of blame on him for his expo- 
fure of the fophifts, from the reflection that 
the liberties of Athens were victims at the 
ihrine of falfe philofophy. When Arifto- 
phanes attacked Pericles, whofe name was 
revered throughout Greece, the Athenians 
were not difpleafed, becaufe they consi- 
dered it as a fymbol of republican equality. 
A comic poet was then a party man, who 
offered his advice on public affairs, and 
fpoke on the ftage as declaimers did in the 
affemblies of the people. The fubjecT: of 
the Acarnanians, for inftance, is entirely a 
political one. When Athens and Lace- 
dsemon had mutually ravaged each other, 
and a negociation for peace was propofed, 
the generals Cleon and Lamachus refift the 
overtures, which Ariftophanes advifes them 
to accepts He burlefques thefe generals 

without 



I70 COMMENTARIES ON 

without due difcrimination : he reprefents' 
Chon in his true chara&er, intriguing and 
eloquent ; but he does not treat Lamachus- 
with the candour which is his cue ; Lama- 
chus, a noble foldier who died righting for 
his country before Syracufe ! 

The Athenians, light and frivolous-, 
heard with more attention the fatire of 
their comic poets, than the more labored 
and ferious harangues of their orators. 
With refpect to the charge of indecency of 
language, it may be obferved, that the 
Greeks had a general cuftom of living with 
courtezans in the moft free and unreferved 
manner in their own houfes, while their 
wives were kept with great ftriclnefs in the 
interior, intent on domeftic affairs, and the 
nurture of ,their children. This fort of life, 
which the religion of the Athenians fancYi- 
iied, would have a natural tendency to pro- 
duce laxity of manners and converfation ; 
and perhaps every exception we take to the 
writings of Ariftophanes, may find a pal- 
liation in the reigning modes, the fpirit, 
and the government, of Athens. There is, 

at 






CLASSICAL LEARNING. 171 

at firft view, a feeming contradiction in the 
character of the Athenians, who punifhed 
a contempt of the gods with the utmoft: 
feverity, and yet allowed it in Euripides 
and Ariflophanes. Comedies were not per- 
formed by public authority more than 
three or four times in a year: but thofe 
were the feafts of Bacchus, when unbri- 
dled licence was allowed both to the wri- 
ters and the a&ors. Judges named by the ' 
ftate examined the merit of the pieces be- 
fore their reprefentation, and the fuffrages 
of the majority determined which fhould be 
crowned as victorious, and exhibited with 
all.poffible pomp to the people. 

An olive crown was affigned to Ariflo- 
phanes in a public affembly ; nor is it fair 
to acquiefce in the partiality of which his 
judges have been fufpefted, fince folicita- 
tion and cabal, caprice and prejudice, have 
in all ages been imputed by the unfuccefsful 
candidates, and fometimes perhaps too 
juftly, to the deciders on literary fame. 

The following are fome pleafant frag- 
ments of the writers of the old comedy, 

who 



I72 COMMENTARIES ON 

who feem to have abounded both in wit 
and fentiment. 

Crates a comic poet, and a celebrated 
actor, two characters very frequently com- 
bined at that time, has left us the following 
reflections on old age. 

" Thefe fhrivelled finews, and this bending frame. 
The workmanflii-p of time's ftrong hand proclaim ; 
Skilled to reverfe whate'er the gods create, 
And make that crooked which they fafhion ftraight. 
Hard choice for man ! to die, or elfe to be 
That tottering, wretched, wrinkled, thing you fee : 
Age, then, we all prefer ; for age we pray ; 
And travel on to life's lafl lingering day. 
Then finking flowly down from worfe to worfe, 
Find heaven's extorted boon our greateft curfe." 

Pherecrates a comic writer contemporary 
with Plato and Ariftophanes, and the in- 
ventor of one of the metres ufed by Horace* 
" Graio Pyrrha fub antro" has left only a 
few lines, and thofe no very flattering 
teftimony to the fobriety of his country- 
women. 

** Remark how wifely ancient art provides 

The broad-brimmed cup with flat expanded fides j 

A cup 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 173 

A cup contrived for man's difcreter ufe, 

And fober potions of the generous juice* 

But woman's more ambitious, thirfty foul, 

Soon longed to revel in the plenteous bowl : 

Deep and capacious as the fwelling hold 

Of fome flout bark, fhe fhaped the hollow mould ; 

Then turning out a veffel like a tun, 

Simpering, exclaimed, Obferve ! I drink but one/* 

Amipfias, another writer at the fame 
period, has left us the titles only of his 
plays, but from them we may form a cor- 
rect judgment of their tendency. They 
are, the Gamefters, the Glutton, the 
Beard, the Adulterers, and the Philofo- 
pher's cloak. Every relique of their 
works fhew, that with an unfparing hand 
they lafhed all the prevailing vices of their 
country, and that their inftruments of 
punifhment inflicted wounds too deep and 
fevere for the delicate texture of the Athe- 
nian character* 

Impiety having fucceeded to infolence, 
the licence of which Socrates was the vic- 
tim, was at length reftrained by law, and 
the middle comedy was fubftituted for the 
old. In this the writers traced living cha- 
racters 



174 COMMENTARIES ON 

rafters under fiditious names, and the 
people delighted in finding out the refem- 
blance. Controlled by the Macedonian 
princes, the mufe of Ariftophanes was com- 
pelled to take a milder ftrain ; and death 
had flopped the impetuous tongue of De- 
mofthenes. The bitter Cratinus himfelf 
was compelled to war only with the dead, 
and to ridicule the Odyffey of Homer. 

The author of the Obferver juftly re- 
marks, that the loofe hold which the efta- 
blifhed religion had upon the minds of the 
common people, arifing probably from the 
influence of the new philofophy, may be 
feen in fome of the writers of the middle 
comedy, whofe fatire againft the gods would 
not have been tolerated in iEfchylus or 
Ariftophanes. 

Diodorus was a native of Senope, a city 
of Pontus, the birth-place of many eminent 
poets and philofophers. The following 
fragment written by him remains, and was 
fpoken by a perfon fuftaining the character 
cfaparafite. " All other arts, have been 
of man's invention without the help of the 
1 1 gods ; 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. I 75 

gods; but Jupiter himfelf, who is our part- 
ner in trade, firft taught us how to play 
the parafite ; and he, without difpute, is 
of all the gods the greateft. 'Tis his cut- 
torn to make himfelf welcome in every 
houfe he enters, rich or poor, no matter 
which ; wherever he finds the dinner 
table neatly fpread, the couches ready fet, 
and all things in decent order, down fits 
he without ceremony, eats, drinks, and 
makes merry, and all at free coft, cajoling 
his poor hoft ; and in the end, when he 
has filled his belly and bilked his club, 
cooly walks home at his leifure." 

Very copious collections from the writers 
of the middle comedy have been made, 
and well tranflated by the fame ingenious 
author. 

Eubulus, a native of Atama in Lefbos, a 
celebrated poet, and the author of fifty 
comedies, introduces Bacchus laying down 
•thefe temperate and moral rules : 

M Three cups of wine a prudent man may take j 
The firft of thefe for conititift-io&a fake ; 



The 



Ij6 COMMENTARIES ON 

The fecond to the girl he loves the bell : 
The third and laft to lull him to his reft ; 
Then home to bed. But if a fourth he pours* 
That is the cup of folly and not ours. 
Loud noify talking- on the fifth attends ; 
The fixth breeds feuds and falling out of friends. 
Seven beget blows and faces (tained with gore j 
Eight, and th«* watch patrole breaks ope the door. 
Mad with the ninth, another cup goes round, 
And the fwilled fot drops fenfelefs on the ground." 
s 

Plato was ftyled the prince of the middle 
comedy. The following are his lines on 
the tomb of Themiftoclefi : 

u By the fea's margin on the watery ilrand, 
Thy monument Themiftoples {hall {land : 
By this directed to thy native more* 
The merchant mall convey his freighted iiore. 
And when our fleets are fummoned to the fight, 
Athens (hall conquer with thy tomb in fight." 

The licentioufnefs of the Athenian ftage 
being thus in fome degree corrected, a way 
was made for the introduction of the third 
epoch called the New Comedy. 

This was an exquifite refinement of the 
magiftratcs, who having firft abolilhed real 

2 names. 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. iyj 

names, they now abolifhed real fubje&s, and 
a too flanderous chorus. The poets were 
therefore reduced to the neceffity of pro- 
ducing on the ftage, fubje&s and names of 
pure invention, by which the theatre was 
both purified and enriched, for then comedy 
ceafed to be a Megaera armed with torches, 
and became an agreeable and innocent 
mirror of human life. 

Such was the comedy of Menander, of 
whom Quintilian fays, that he has obliterated 
the name of all the writers in that depart- 
ment, and thrown them into the made by 
the tranfcendency of his own luftre. Me- 
nander was born, about three hundred and 
forty-five years before Chrift, at Athens, 
and educated under the peripatetic philo- 
fopher TheOphraftus. He began to write 
for the ftage at twenty years of age, and 
did not difgrace his compofitiqns, by per- 
fo nal fatire, but was replete in the elegance 
of ftyle, refined wit, and correcl: judgment. 
Terence borrowed all his plays from him 
but his Phormio and Hecyra, hence Csefar 
ftyled him the Demi-Menander. Of a hun- 
n dred 



178 COMMENTARIES ON 

dred plays, only fome fragments and titles 
remain, containing fentiments of various 
kinds, moral, fubiime, and gloomy. The 
tefiimonies in his favour are numerous 
and refpeclable. Quintilian fays he eclipfes 
£very writer of his clafs ; Dion Chryfoftoni 
recommends him as a model for all who 
fludy to excel in oratory. 

The ftyle of Menander, fays' Plutarch, is 
always uniform and pure. He has the 
addrefs to adjuft himfelf to the different 
characters without neglecting the comic in 
any degree, where the nature of the object 
renders it neceflary. He attained a per- 
fection to which no artizan has known 
how to reach. For what man has ever 
had the art to form a mafk calculated alike 
for children and women, divinities and 
heroes? but Menander has found this happy 
fecret. His works difparage thofe of the 
philofophers ; and he is, with regard to 
them, a meadow enamelled with flowers, 
where one delights to refpire an air that is 
jpure. 

He 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 179 

He does not neglect the comic, nor out- 
rage it. He never lofes fight of nature, 
and the fupplenefs and flexibility of his 
ftyle has never been furpafled. It is like a 
limpid ftream which, running between ir- 
regular and tortuous banks, takes all forms 
without lofing aught of its purity. He 
writes like a man of fpirit, a man of the 
world ; he was made to be read, repre- 
fented, learned by heart ; to pleafe in all 
places, and at all times ; and in reading his 
pieces, we are not furprifed to find that he 
pafied as a man who exprefled himfelf mod 
agreeably, both in converfation and in wri- 
ting, of any of his age. 

How can we fufficiently lament the lofs 
of an author of whofe excellence we may 
form fome judgment, both from the tefti- 
mony of the ancients, and the valuable 
works of Terence, who clofely imitated, if 
he did not literally tranflate him ! 

Menander was drowned as he was 
bathing ; fome fay he drowned himfelf 
becaufe Philemon triumphed over him in a 
poetical conteft. 

n 2 The 



l8o COMMENTARIES ON 

The fragments of his works cited by 
various authors are not very favourable to 
his philanthropy. There is one, however, 
of a comic turn from the minftrel, pointed 
at avarice. 



** Ne*er truffc me, Phemius, but I thought till now 
That you rich fellows had a knack of fleeping 
A good found nap, that held you all the night. 
And not like us poor rogues who tofs and tumble, 
Sighing ah me ! and grumbling at our being. 
But now I find, in fpite of all your money, 
You reft no better than your needy neighbours, 
And forrow is the common lot of all." 



The new comedy continued from the 
death of Alexander of Macedon to that of 
Menander. It was a fplendid sera, abound- 
ing in comic writers of great celebrity, of 
whom we have now only a barren catalogue 
of names. Philemon, the fuccefsful rival of 
Menander, feerns to have been plaintive 
and melancholy in his writings. 

The author of the Obferver confirms 
this opinion by his tranflation of the fol- 
lowing, fragments ' 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. l8l 

K O Cleon, ceafe to trifle thus with life, 
A mind fo barren of experience 
Can hoard up nought but mifery, believe me; 
The fhip-wrecked mariner mud fink outright 
Who makes no effort to regain the fhore. 
The needy wretch who never learned a trade 
And will not work, muft ftarve. What then ? you cry 
My riches ! frail fecurity : — my farms, 
My houfes, my eftate : alas ! my friends, 
Fortune makes quick defpatch, and in a day 
Can ftrip you bare as beggary itfelf. 
Grant that ye now had piloted your bark 
Into good fortune's haven,, anchored there, 
And moored her fafe as caution could devife ; 
Yet if the headftrong paffion feize the helm 
And turn her out tofea, the ftormy gufts 
Shall rife, and blow you out of fight of port, 
Never to reach profperity again 
What tell you me ? have I not friends to fly to ? 
I have : and will not thofe kind friends protect me ? 
Better it were you mould not need their fervice, 
And fo not make the trial. Much I fear 
Your finking hand would only grafp a ihade." 

The fame poet fings thus alfo : 

** Still to be rich, Is ftill to be unhappy ; 
Still to be envied, hated, and abufed, 
Still to commence new law-fuits, new vexations ; 
Still to be rafking, ftill to be collecting, 
Only to make your funeral a feaft 
And hoard up riches for a thriftlefs heir. 
Let me be light in purfe, and light in heart. 

n 3 Give 



l82 COMMENTARIES ON 

Give me fmall means, but give content withal. 
Only preferve me from the law, kind gods ! 
And I will thank you for your poverty." 

Philemon lived above a hundred years 
and feems to the lateft period of his life 
to have derived his happinefs from his 
mufe. 

This was the lafl fpecies of Grecian 
comedy, and the Romans jfhewed their 
high ellimation of it, for they did not at- 
tempt to imitate the works of Menander, 
bit were the fervile and literal tranflators 
of them. The models indeed had much 
merit to recommend them, and from the 
fcanty fpecimens that remain, we may pre- 
fume that they abounded in juft opinions 
of life and manners ; by indulging their 
talent for ridicule on topics of a general 
nature, they were more likely to benefit 
fociety than their predeceflbrs, who grati- 
fied their fpleen by the reprefentation of 
perfonal defeds, and the expofure of the 
vices and the follies of individuals. 

This is an imperfect, but as far as it goes, 
I truft, a juft account of the progrefs of 

4 the 



CLASSICAL LEARNING, 



183 



the Grecian drama. It owed its origin 
mod unqueftionably to the perufal of the 
poems of Homer , and Pififtratus, who ob- 
tained them by public proclamation from 
the rhapfodifts, and preferved them from 
political interpolations, and the mutilations 
of defective memory, mud be confidered 
as worthy the perpetual veneration and 
gratitude of learned men. The tafte of an 
age and country may in general be known 
by the particular fpecies of its literary 
works. It appears wonderful to us at this 
day, to be told that Euclid had collected 
three thoufand plays, and that his collection 
was imperfect:, and that when Terence was 
writing, Rome had two thoufand Greek 
comedies. But we mud not imagine that 
an idle londnefs for fpectacles actuated the 
Athenians in their rage for theatrical amufe- 
ments ; the reprefentations came home 
both to their bufinefs as republicans, and 
to their bofoms as men. In their drama 
we fhall find, as Francklin has obferved, 
** a mod exact and faithful picture of the 
manners of Greece, its religious and civil 
N 4 policy, 



184 COMMENTARIES ON 

policy, fublimity both of fentiment and 
diction, regularity, fymmetry and propor- 
tion, excellent moral aphorifms and reflec- 
tions, together with a moft elegant and 
amiable fimplicity difFufed throughout 
every page. Befides this, it was not as 
with us a mere matter of amufement, but 
the channel of public inftrudtion, and the 
inftrument of public policy." 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 185 



SECTION VI. 

Paftoral Poetry. — Epigram. — Theocritus. ~-Bion. — M$f~ 
chus .—Anthologia. 

iastoral poetry is more at variance 
with our experience than any other. Our 
climate, and the ignorance of our fhepherds, 
gives it an air of fidion and of fable which 
takes away much of the pleafure it might 
otherwife afford to the reader. 

But in ancient times every Ihepherd was 
mufical and poetical ; and in Sicily to this 
day there are contentions between the 
raftic performers on the flute. 

Theocritus was born, nearly three cen- 
turies before the chriftian asra, at Syracufe. 
He has written thirty eclogues, and the 
Doric dialed: gives him a decided pre- 
eminence in this fpecies of poetry. Some 
of his lines on the paflions are well expref- 
fed* That poem in which he reprefents a 

fhepherdefs 



I 86 COMMENTARIES ON 

fhepherdefs employing magic to bring 
back a fugitive lover, has been confidered 
as one of the moil impaffioned pieces 
which the ancients poffeffed. His predo- 
minant character is fimplicity, but this 
fimplicity fometimes defcends to groffnefs. 
He prefents the reader with too many 
indifferent circumftances, and his fubje&s 
have too much refemblance. Contentions 
©n the flute, and quarrels between fhep- 
Jierds, are to us irifipid in themfelves, and 
tirefome by their repetition. They neither 
excite our curiofity, nor awaken our fym- 
patby. The half-attentive reader begins 
with languor and Sniihes with difguft. 
Bion and Mofchu$ were contemporaries of 
Theocritus, the one of Smyrna, the other 
of Syracufe. They both wrote with eafe 
and elegance. Their Idyllia pofTefs a pecu- 
liar delicacy, and their elegies are tender 
and fen ti mental. 

The ode of the former on the death of 
Adonis has been much celebrated, and in- 
deed in general the verfes of both thefe 
poets feem to have been written with more 

care 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 



187 



care than thofe of Theocritus, but are not 
wholly devoid of affectation. 

The lover of rural fcenes will be grati- 
fied by the images which they prefent him, 
and cannot fail to admire the fweetnefs and 
elegance of the poetry. 



GREEK EPIGRAM. 

In the modern fenfe of the word, the 
epigram is, of all kinds of poetry, that 
which approaches neareft to fatire, fince it 
has the fame objects, cenfure and raillery. 
The word now applies to an ingenious 
thought or turn of expreffion, which con- 
stitutes the merit of a fhort poem. But 
the term in itfelf fignifies only an infcrip- 
tion, and it has retained amongft the 
Greeks its etymological acceptation. The 
epigrams collected by Agathias, Planudes, 
Conftantine, Hierocles and others, which 
compofe the Greek Anthologia, are but 
little more than infcriptions for reli- 
gious offerings, for tombs, ftatues and 
monuments. They are for the moft part 

extremely 



l88 COMMENTARIES ON 

extremely fimple, in conformity to their 
object, which is only to relate a fact. 

Thofe upon a ftatue of Niobe, on the ad- 
venture of Leander and Hero, on the Venus 
of Praxiteles, and on Hercules, feem moft 
to refemble the modern epigram. The 
laft, written by Plato, is one of the prettied. 
Lais on her return from Greece, confecrates 
her looking-glafs in the temple of Venus 
with thefe lines : 

« Venus, take my votive gjafs., 
Since I am not what I was ; 
What from this day I mall be, 
Venus, let me never fee." 

The following epigram on Troy, a legi- 
timate proof that the Greek word imported 
an infcription, has been fo happily imitated 
by Dr. Aikin, that the reader will require 
no apology for the infertion of it : 

«« Where, haplefs Ilium ! are thy heav'n- built walls, 
Thy high embattled towers, thy fpacious halls, 
Thy folemn temples filled with forms divine, 
Thy guardian Pallas in her awful Ihrine, 
The mighty Heftor, where ? thy fav'rite boaft, 
And all thy valiant fons, a numerous hoft ; 
Thy arts, thy arms, thy riches and thy ftate ; 
Thy pride of pomp, and all that made thee great ? 

Thefe, 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 1 89 

Thefe, proftrate all, in duft and ruins lie, 

iBut thy tranfcendent fame can never die. 

\ Tis not in fate to fink thy glories paft ; 

They fill the world, and with the world (hall lad." 



LTCOPHROK 

Lycophron was born at Chalcis in 
Euboea in the time of Ptolemy Philadel- 
phus, about two hundred and feventy-fix 
years before Chrift, when a galaxy of 
learned men gave fplendour to the age. 
All that remains of his writings, except 
the mere titles of fome tragedies, is a work 
intitled the Caffandra, containing the fup- 
pofed prophecies of the daughter of Priam 
uttered during the Trojan War. They are 
delivered, by the keeper of the tower in 
which (he was lodged, to the king. Lyco- 
phron has been accufed of great obfeurity : 
but, as the reader is informed at the outfet 
that the prophetefs was dark in her pre- 
fages, he cannot furely, after that informa- 
tion, exped: to find the poet afford him a 
very intelligible recital. 

In defence of this writer, it has been faid 

that the nature of his poem involved dif- 

2 ficulty 



ig6 COMMENTARIES Ott 

ficulty in it ; but as he has always under* 
flood himfelf, by due labour and attention 
he may be underftood by the reader : that 
where it was permitted him to be clear, no 
poet is more fo : that he has all the fire 
of Pindar, and contains pafTages which 
would gladly have been claimed by thfc 
firft writers in Greece and Rome : that 
when Horace delivers the beautiful pro- 
phecy of the deftruclion that was to be the 
coniequence of the rape of Helen, he is a 
dole imitator of the Caffandra. 

It feems to have been the cuftom with 
the Latin poets to confider the w r orks of 
the Greeks as a common (lock which they 
had a right to pillage: but the poem of 
Lycophron has been fo little read, that 
many plagiarifms from him have efcaped 
obfervation. There is a certain intellectual 
cowardice in the generality of fcholars, 
which renders them unwilling to attack the 
yvorks of authors who have too rafhly been 
condemned and laid afide for a fuppofed 
impenetrable obfcurity. 



He 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 



I9I 



He who has the fpirit to think for him- 
felf, and the refolution to encounter labour, 
will find that the apparent difficulties of 
Lycophron are not infuperable as he at 
firft conceived ; but that they yield to the 
pei fevering efforts of application. 

Every obftacle is eafily removed when 
the powers of mechanifm are fummoned to 
the aid of individual ftrength. A vigorous 
exertion of the fame talents which finds 
connexion in the choruffes of iEfchylus, 
will difperfe the clouds that darken the 
prophecies of CalTandra. 



tgi COMMENTARIES ON 



SECTION VII. 

On Grecian Oratory. Peric/es, Ly/ias, Ificrates % Hype- 

^ rides, If<£us> JEfchine.^ Demojlhenes. 

W hen we pais from, poetry to eloquence? 
objects the mod ferious and important, 
fiudies the moft fevere and demanding the 
deeper! reflection, take place of the fports 
of the imagination. 4 

I do not mean to fay that imagination is 
not effential to the orator.; or that the poet, 
in the moft lofty flights of enthufiafm, 
ought to lofe fight of reafon ; but the one 
predominates in eloquence, the other in 
poetry. The tranfition, however, is from 
the 6 amufements of youth to the labours of 
maturerage ; for, poetry is converfant with 
pl'eafure, eloquence with bufinefs. - Poetry 
is a ferious occupation to the writer only, 
and a delightful entertainment to the reader 
of tafte and feeling. But when the orator 

declaims 



CLASSICAL LEARNING* I93 

declaims, or the ftatefman deliberates in a 
popular afTembly, eloquence is a moft ufeful 
art, and well calculated to attract the vene- 
ration of the citizens. It (hews that there 
is a natural connection between genius and 
virtue, and that knowledge and talents are 
the true inftruments of national fafety and 
felicity. If they have fometimes deviated 
from their original inftitution, the inference 
is, that being a fpecies of power, they have 
in bad hands been perverted into inftru- 
ments of oppreffion. No argument is 
hence to be drawn againft their dignity or 
their value. 

The qualifications neceJQTary to form the 
orator have been delineated by one of the 
greateft that ever appeared, and are fo 
numerous as to render men of common 
acquirements hopelefs of obtaining them. 

When the theatre reprefents to us tem- 
ples, palaces and groves, the fpe£tator is 
enchanted by the fpe&acle ; but he ought 
to remember that the artift who produces 
this agreeable illufion, muft have ftudied 
the effects of perfpe&ive, the- advantage 



194 COMMENTARIES ON 

of light and fhade, and the magic of co- 
lours. 

It is a remarkable trait in the hiftory of 
the human mind, that there have been only- 
two republics which have left to the world 
perpetual models of poetry and eloquence. 
It is as from the bofom of liberty that 
thofe lights of good tafte were twice dif- 
fufed which now illuminate the polifhed 
nations of Europe. Of thefe two great 
empires, nothing remains except the recol- 
lection of annihilated grandeur, but the 
fine arts are the noble inheritance which 
we have recovered from the ruins of 
Athens and of Rome. 

It is in Athens, fays Cicero, that the 
firft orator exifted, and this orator was 
Pericles. He flourished, about four hun- 
dred and twenty years before Ghrift ; and 
although Pififtratus and Cliflhenes, who 
preceded him, had merit for their time, 
and Themiftocles poflefled the art in a 
confiderable degree, yet before him there 
was no true eloquence. The names of 
many orators who were contemporary with 

Pericles 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. I95 

Pericles remain, but as none of their works 
are in exiftence, we can only loofely con- 
jecture the reigning tafte of the age. Their 
ftyle was fententious, but on account of 
its precision, it was fomewhat obfcure. 
From perceiving the effects which a well 
compofed difcourfe could produce, there 
ftarted up a race who offered themfelves as 
profeffors of the art of oratory. Gorgias 
Leontinus, Thrafimachus, Protagoras, Pro- 
dicus Hippias, and many others obtained 
celebrity in their profeffion ; but it was not 
much in favour of their art that they de-^ 
clared themfelves capable of making a bad 
caufe appear a good one. 

Lyfias, the fon of Cephalus, was a native 
of Syracufe, and born about four hundred 
and fixty years before our sera. Imme- 
diately after his birth his father removed to 
Athens, and there he carefully educated 
his ion. In his fifteenth year, Lyfias ac- 
companied the colony which the Athenians 
fent to Thurium ; and after along refidence 
in that place, returned home in his forty- 
feventh year. He diftinguimed himfelf 
02 bv 



I96 COMMENTARIES ON 

by the pure ftyle of his orations, of which 
thirty- four only remain out of two hundred 
and thirty. The manners of the Athenians 
may be feen in a clear point of view in his 
firft oration, and the learned reader will 
think that the fcene lies in London, and 
that the event has taken place in the nine- 
teenth century. 

The moft celebrated lawyer at the Eng- 
lifh bar would be delighted with the perufal 
of this oration, and not difdain on a fimilar 
cccafion to defend his client with the arms 
of Lyfias. He furvived to the eighty-firft 
year of his age, 

Ifocrates was born at Athens about four 
hundred and thirty-feven years before 
Chrift. His father was a maker of mufical 
inftruments. He never fpoke in public, 
but opened a fchool of eloquence. Thirty- 
one of his orations are flili extant. His 
fchool, which was open fixty years, was 
the moft celebrated in Greece, and ren- 
dered great fervice to the art of oratory, 
as Cicero attefts in thefe words : " He was a 
great orator, a perfect mailer of the art, 
1 1 and, 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. I97 

and, without mining in the roftrum, with- 
out quitting his own houfe, arrived at a 
degree of celebrity which no one elfe had 
attained. He wrote well, and taught others 
to write well. He knew better than his 
predeceflbrs the oratorical art in all its 
departments. But, above all, he was the 
firft to underftand that if profe ought to 
have the rhythm of verfe, it ought at lead 
to have numbers, and an harmony which 
are proper to itfelf." The remains of his 
orations infpire the reader with the higheft 
veneration for his abilities, and his virtues. 
He was intimate with Philip ; and to this 
the Athenians owed fome years of peace. 
The afpiring ambition of that monarch 
however, difgufted him ; and after the 
battle of Chgeronea he did not furvive the 
difgrace of his country, but died after refu- 
fing aliment for four days, in the ninety- 
ninth year of his age. The fevere conduit 
of the Athenians againft Socrates had fo 
highly difpleafed him, that he put on 
mourning the very day of his death. 

o 3 The 



I98 COMMENTARIES ON 

The beauties of language may fucceff- 
fully be fought for in Ifocrates. The 
fmoothnefs of his ftyle, the eafe, the ele- 
gance, the delicacy, and the fwestnefs of 
his expreffions, captivate every ear that is 
attuned to harmony. His attention to 
excellencies of this fort was laborious and 
minute. Ten years, he confeffes to have 
been employed on one of his orations, and 
many of the others are the fruit of long 
protracted induftry. The qualifications 
with which nature endowed Ifocrates, he 
wifely cultivated and improved. His 
knowledge was fuperior to his rhetoric 
While we admire the orator, we reverence 
the philofopher, and are enchanted at his 
delivery of truths which evince an en- 
lightened underftanding and an upright 
heart. The love of his country was an 
active principle which warmed him to en- 
thufiafm, but it did not exclude the more 
generous principle of philanthropy. The 
great orator of Greece could difcerri no- 
thing worthy of praife but in his native 

Athens, 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. I99 

Athens, and Rome exclufively might boaft 
the eulogies of Tully ; but merit, whether 
in Greek or Barbarian, was recognized by 
liberates He well knew that genius and 
virtue are not the growth or invention of 
any particular country, but the ornament 
and pride of every one where they flou- 
rifh. 

Hyperides had every advantage which 
could attend the education of an orator, 
for he was taught by Plato and by Socrates. 
We learn that he was frequently oppofed 
to Demofthenes, and from this circum- 
ftance we may form fome judgment of his 
merit. 

One only of his orations is extant, a fair 
fpecimen of his ability ; but Longinus, who 
read them all, decides his character. He 
fays that Hyperides has all the qualities 
wanting to Demofthefses, but that he never 

elevates himfelf to the fublime. 

- 

Amidft the firft orators in the fecond 

rank, is I fas us the preceptor of Demofthenes, 

born about three hundred and eighty years 

before Chrift. He was born at Chalcis in 

o 4 Eubcea, 



200 COMMENTARIES ON 

Eubcea, and when he came to the feat of 
learning, he placed himfelf under the in- 
ftru&ion of Lyfias. His eloquence was 
vigorous and energetic ; and thofe qualities 
obtained him the praife and imitation of 
his illuftrious pupil. Ten out of fixty-four 
of his orations are extant, and they vindi- 
cate the approbation bellowed upon him 
by Demofthenes. 

iEfchines flouriflied at Athens about 
three hundred and forty-two years before 
Chrift. It was his glory to have been the 
rival of Demofthenes, and his difgrace to 
have been bribed by Philip of Macedon. 

To his envy of the former we are in- 
debted for the two orations De Corona, 
when Ctefiphon propofed to reward the 
patriotifm of his friend, and the fpeakers 
exerted all their powers, the one in op- 
pofing, the other in defending the pro- 
pofal. 

However well known the fubje£t, it 
may not be improper to refer to thefe two 
celebrated fpeeches in confidering the lite- 
rary character of thefe diftinguifhed orators. 

There 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 



20I 



There could not be produced a ftronger 
proof of their abilities, for each of them 
employed more than four years in pre* 
paring himfelf for the conteft. Their ani- 
mofity was fo well known throughout 
Greece, that it drew together an immenfe 
concourfe from all parts to fee the combat 
between thefe two great men who had 
become fo celebrated by their rivalry. 

After their defeat at Chseronea, the 
Athenians, fearful of being befieged, began 
to repair their walls. Demofthenes ad- 
vifed the meafure, and was charged with 
the execution of it. In this office he ac- 
quitted himfelf fo nobly that he furnifhed 
from his private fortune, a confiderable fum 
for this patriotic purpofe. Ctefiphon de- 
manded of the Athenians that they fhould 
honor him with a crown of gold as a 
reward of his generofity. The decree 
paffed, importing that the proclamation 
ihould be made in the theatre cjuring the 
feftival of Bacchus, when all Greece was 
aflembled to behold the fpe&acle. JEC- 
chines had long been the enemy of 

Demofthenes, 



202 COMMENTARIES ON i 

Demoflhenes, and the €C Odium in longum 
jacens" gladly feized on the prefent favour- 
able occafion to difplay itfelf. 

He was poffefTed of great talents, and 
a happy organization, which he had exer- 
cifed very early in life, having been bred 
up a comedian. But he had alfo a venal 
foul, and was one of the many orators 
who had bartered his independence for 
money. 

The prefent accufation of JE'fchines 
turned on three points of law. 

That no citizen charged with any admi- 
niflration fhould be crowned, and that 
Demoflhenes had been charged with the 
expence of the public fpeftacles, and the 
reparation of the walls. 

That a decree of coronation carried by 
the fenate fhould not be proclaimed elfe- 
where than in the fenate itfelf, whereas 
that of Ctefiphon ought to have been 
proclaimed according to its tenor in the 
theatre. 

That the decree imported that the crown 
was to be given to Demoflhenes for the 

fe'rvices 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 203 

fervices which he had rendered to the 
ftate, while, on the contrary, Demofthenes 
had done nothing but injury to the ftate. 

Notwithftanding the brilliant eloquence 
of iEfchines, we difcern every moment the 
feeblenefs of his arguments, and the arti- 
fice of his 1 falfehoods. He gives a forced 
fenfeto all the laws he cites, and a malig- 
nant interpretation of all the a&ions of his 
adverfary. He accufes him of every thing 
in which he is himfelf culpable ; he re- 
proaches him with being fold to Philip, 
whofe penfioner he himfelf is, and the 
more he feels the defedts of his proofs, the 
more he accumulates his expreffions of 
calumny and detra&ion. 

iEfchines begins by infilling upon the 
religious veneration which all men. ought 
to have for the laws of their country, and 
particularly in a free ftate. This is the 
bafis of his exordium, and he treats it 
with that noble gravity which becomes the 
fubjed:. We may pafs over the juridical 
part of the oration, and come to that 
where iEfchines flatters himfelf with the 
1 polfeilion 



204 COMMENTARIES ON 

pofleffion of the vantage ground, namely, 
the bad fuccefs of the war, and the delin- 
quency of the orator who had advifed it. 
Here he exerts all his abilities to make 
Demofthenes unpopular and odious. He 
invokes the (hades of thofe citizens who 
had fallen, and furrounds him with their 
avenging manes, forming them around him 
as a rampart from which he thinks it im- 
poffible for him to efcape. 

The world are too often guided in their 
opinions of men and things, by the impro- 
per criterion of events. But fo far were 
the Athenians from imputing their mif- 
fortunes to the advifer of the war, that 
they had unanimoufly appointed him to the 
honor of pronouncing the funeral eulogy 
on the foldiers who had died in it, and to 
whom a monument had been raifed at the 
public expence. This appointment was fo 
deferable, that many orators, and amongft 
them iEfchines, had been candidates to ob- 
tain it. From the two principal points 
which iEfchines treats in the latter part of 
his difcourfe, it is plainly fhewn what a 

great 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 



20S 



great degree of terror the eloquence of 
Demofthenes infpired. For he endeavours 
to prefcribe to him the precife mode of his 
defence, and petitions the judges to oblige 
him to conform to the fame order as he had 
done in his accufation. Finally, he at- 
tempts to prove that Ctefiphon ought to 
defend himfelf; and that, when in com- 
pliance with the ufual form, he fhould fay, 
permit me to ;all Demofthenes to fpeak 
for me, that they fhould from that mo- 
ment refufe to attend to him. The art of 
iEfchines here feems to defert him ; his 
demand was revolting to common fenfe, as 
well as to juftice, and could not be granted. 
Demofthenes, not Ctefiphon, had been the 
main object of attack, and iEfchines was 
injudicious in a double view, both in al- 
lowing his fears of his rival to appear, and 
in perfuading himfelf that the judges of 
Athens would deprive themfelves of the 
pleafure of hearing fo great an advocate in 
his own caufe. 

But iEfchines well knew that misfortune, 
which exafperates a people, frequently 

renders 



206 COMMENTARIES ON 

renders them unjuft, and is apt to excite 
refentment againft the innocent caufe of 
it. He thought it likely that he would 
fink under the weight of the public difafters, 
and that as events were all hoftile to him, 
he would not find -an adequate apology in 
the purity of intention. He was befides 
amply furnifhed with all thofe common- 
place arguments which are fo powerful in 
aiding a weak caufe — the blood of fo many 
citizens fhed in the war, the devaluation of 
cities, the grief of families, which he details 
with all the infidioufnefs of art, the bitter- 
nefs of indignation, and the perfidy of hatred. 
Demofthenes was extremely wife, as 
well as fpirited, in refufing to purfue the 
plan of ^defence which the artifice of 
iEfchines had prefcribed to him, when he 
w r ould have obliged him to anfwer firft to 
the infraction of legal forms. He well 
knew that the legal difcuflion, already too 
long in the fpeech of iEfchines, would ap- 
pear ftill more tedious by a repetition; that 
it would refrigerate his exordium, weary 
and difguft his audience. It was his bufi- 

nefs 



CLASSICAL LEARNING, 



207 



nefs to prove that he deferved the crown, 
by placing before their eyes all that he had 
done for the ftate. The pi&ure he draws 
of his adminiftration, traced with all the 
glowing colours he poiTerTed, mud have 
tended to humiliate his adverfary, by ag- 
grandizing himfelf in the eyes of the 
Athenians, and placing his caufe in the 
moft favourable point of view. He well 
knew how to infinuate himfelf into the 
hearts of his hearers, by the delicate man- 
ner in which he bears teftimony in favour 
of his own conduct. 

It is the Athenians who have done every 
thing; his thoughts, his refolutions, have 
always been theirs. His advice has always 
been in congruity with their fentiments. 
Whence we may conceive to what degree 
he muft pleafe a people naturally vain, 
and how little furprizing it is, that he ob- 
tained all their fuffrages. 

When he comes to the moft difficult part 
of the queftion, he thus addreffes iEfchines; 
" Unhappy man! If it be the public 
difafters which have given you fuch auda- 
city, 



2o8 COMMENTARIES ON 

city, and which, on the contrary, you 
ought to lament, together with me, I chal- 
lenge you to exhibit a fingle inftance in 
which I have contributed to the misfor- 
tune. Wherever I have been ambaffador, 
have the envoys of Philip had any advan- 
tage over me ? No, never ; not in any 
place, neither in Thefialy, nor Thrace, 
nor Byzantium, nor Thebes, nor Illyri- 
cum. But that which I accomplifhed by 
words, Philip overturned by force ; and 
you complain of me for this, and do not 
blufh to demand of me an account of it. 
This fame Demofthenes whom you repre- 
fent to be fo feeble a man, you will have it, 
ought to have prevailed over the armies of 
Philip ; and with what ? with words ! for 4 
I had only words to ufe : I had not the 
difpofal of the arms, nor the fortune of any 
one. I had no military command, and no 
one but you has been fo fenfelefs as to de- 
mand from me the reafon of it* But what 
could, w T hat ought, an Athenian orator to 
have done ? To fee the evil in its birth, 
to make others fee it, and that is what I 

have 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 



209 



have done. To prevent as far as it was pof- 
fible the delays, the falfe pretences, th e 
oppofition of interefts, the - miftakes, the 
faults, the obftacles' of every fpecies fo 
common amidft republics jealous of each 
other: and that is what I have done. To 
oppofe to all thefe difficultieSjZea^prompt- 
nefs, love of duty, friendship, concord : 
and that is what I have done. On any of 
thefe points, I defy any one to find me in 
fault j and if they afk me how Philip has 
prevailed, all the world will anfwer for 
me : by his arms which have invaded every 
thing ; by his gold which has corrupted 
every thing. It was not in my power to 
combat either the one or the other; I had 
neither treafures nor foluiers : but as far 
as was in my power, 1 dare fay this, I 
have conquered Philip — and, how ? by re, 
fufing his prefents, by refufing to be bri- 
bed. When a man allows himfelf to be 
bought, the buyer may fay that he has 
triumphed over him ; but he who lives in- 
corruptible, may fay that he ha§ triumphed 
over the corrupter. So then as much as it 
P depended 



2IO COMMENTARIES Qtf 

depended on Demofthenes, Athens ha3 
been victorious, Athens has been invin- 
cible." 

This fpeech is the firft in point of orato- 
rical argumentation that ever was made ; 
we may think we ftill hear the acclama- 
tions which purfued it : nothing ( could 
refift a genius of fuch force ; tfeey do^ 
honor both to the head, and to the 
heart. 

When Demofthenes deigns to come to 
the legal details, he deftroys in a few lines 
the fophifms accumulated by iEfchines un- 
der the pretended violation of the laws in 
the form of the coronation, ordered by the 
decree of Ctefiphon. iEfchines had very 
adroitly feized that part which feemed favo- 
rable to him, and which he could not have 
done without catching at the words of the 
law, Demofthenes withdraws rapidly from 
a fubjecl which is dryly contentious, and 
roufes himfelf to new rhetorical argumen- 
tation. Having refuted the different 
points of accufation preferred againft him, 
he expofes the ftates of Greece at the mo- 
4 ment 






CLASSICAL LEARNING. 



211 



ment when he undertook the ad mini fixation 
'of the public affairs; the ambition, the 
intrigues of Philip, and the venality of 
ftrators fuch as iEfchines, who ferved that 
prince at the expence of their country. 
How nobly does he exprefs himfelf on the 
fubjecT: of the war againfl: Philip, which he 
had been reproached with having advifed ! 
What a fublime ejaculation of patriot en- 
thufiafm, and how infignificant at the mo- 
ment does iEfchines appear when com- 
pared with him ! He recalls the recollec- 
tion of that terrible day when the news of 
the capture of Platasa was brought to 
Athens, which opened a paffage for Philip 
into Attica. The Athenians muft either 
have remained expofed to an invafion, or 
united themfelves with the Thebans, their 
ancient enemies. 

We ought here to recoiled: that the 
Greeks regarded the Macedonians as bar- 
barians, and that the different ftates of 
Greece, though often divided amongft each 
other, thought themfelves bound by a 
fpecies of national confraternity to combat 

P 2 every 



212 COMMENTARIES ON 

every thing that was not Grecian. It was 
not till after the reign of Philip, whofe in- 
fluence was fo powerful, and under Alex- 
ander, who caufed himfelf to be named 
generaliffimo of Greece againft the Per- 
fians, that the Macedonians mingled 
amongft the other Greek nations in the 
general league againft their common ene- 
mies. Demofthenes founds his peroration 
upon the honor which they had done him, 
in confiding to him the funeral eulogy of 
the citizens killed at Ghasronea. iEfchines 
had compelled him to this by making it a 
fubject of reproach ; and as he had himfelf 
vainly folicited the office, he draws from it 
an additional triumph for himfelf, and a 
new humiliation for his accufer. 

It muft be confefTed, that the profufion 
of perfonal allufions on both fides, appears 
at this day very objectionable ; but it was 
authorifed by the coarfenefs of republican 
manners, and at that period had its full 
effeft. 

An Athenian accufer could not exercife 
his talent without confiderable hazard ; for 

unlefs 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 2JJ 

unlefs a fifth part of the votes were with 
him, he was condemned to banimment, 
This happened to JEfchines : having reti- 
red to Rhodes, where he opened a fchool 
of rhetoric, it is very remarkable, that his 
firft efiay was ihe recital of the two 
fpeeches which had caufed his condem- 
nation. It is difficult to conceive how he 
had the courage to read to his fcholars that 
of Demofthenes* It is not a crime to be 
lefs eloquent than another perfon, but how 
could he without a blufh confefs that he 
had been convicted of being a calumniator 
and a bad citizen ?- When iEfchines had 
read the ipeech of Demofthenes, and the 
greateft applaufe was given to it, he very 
ingenuoufly exclaimed, " What would you 
have laid had you heard him deliver it V* 
This accounts for the remarkable exclama- 
tion of Demofthenes, meaning that action 
is the fovereign quality, the firit, the 
fecond, and the third part of eloquence. 

iEfchines wrote three orations, and nine 

epiftles, the former only are extant. They 

P 3 received 



214 COMMENTARIES ON 

received the name of the graces, as the lat- 
ter did of the mules. 

The greater! part of the works of 
Demofthenes have for their obje£t the 
routing the indolence of the Athenians, 
and arming them againft the artful ambi- 
tion of Philip. Under this name we may 
comprehend not only the four harangues 
which particularly bear the title of Philip- 
pics, but all thofe which refpefl: the dis- 
putes of the Athenians with the " man of 
Macedon," fuch as the three orations gene- 
rally called Oiynthiacs, that on the propo- 
fal of peace to Philip, that which was 
made on the occafion of the letter of the 
fame prince, and that which is entitled 
«' On the Cherfonefe." 

In reafoning, and in emotion, confifts 
the eloquence of Demofthenes. No man 
has ever given to reafon more penetrating 
and inevitable weapons. Truth is in his 
hand a piercing dart which he throws with 
as much rapidity as force, and without 
ceafing repeats his attack. His ftyle is 

nervous 



CLASSICAL LEARNING, 215 

nervous and bold, analogous to a foul free 
and impetuous. He rarely condefcends to 
add ornament to his thoughts. This care 
appears below him ; he only thinks of 
conveying them to the hearts of his hearers. 
In his rapid march he draws them whither- 
foever he pleafes, and that which diftin- 
guifhes him from all other orators is, that 
the attention he gains is to the object of 
which he treats, and not to himfelf. Of 
others, we (ay they fpeak well ; of De- 
mofthenes, he is in the right. Sentiments 
and paffions conftitute the affections of the 
foul — compafiion and vengeance, love 
and hatred, emulation and fhame, fear 
and hope, prefumption and humility; — in 
all thefe Demofthenes excels. He has not 
ufed the tender pathetic, becaufe his fub- 
jeds would not bear it ; but he has in a 
fuperior manner managed the vehement 
pathetic, which is peculiarly adapted to 
declamatory oratory. An orator muft be a 
logician, he muft feize the connection and 
oppofition of ideas ; mark with precifion 
the main point of a difputed queftion, dif- 
p 4 cover 



2l6 COMMENTARIES ON 

cover the mazes in which it has been invol- 
ved ; define his terms, apply the principle 
to the queftion, and the confequences to 
the principle, and then break the threads 
of fophiftry, in which perfidy would en- 
tangle ignorance. All thcfe powers be- 
longed to Demofthenes, the moft terrific 
warrior that ever ufed the armour of 
words. When he attacks his adverfary, 
it is Entellus driving Dares from one fide 
of the arena to the other. 

" Prsecipitemque Daren ardens agit aequore toto 
** Creber utraque maim pulfat verfatque Dareta." 

This great man had governed Athens by 
his oratory for twenty years ; the eonteft 
therefore between him and iEfchines was a 
deadly one, for in Athens and Rome 
banifhment was confidered as a fort of 
capital punifhment. Whilft he had there- 
fore on one fide his mortal enemy, and on 
the other his aflembled country, the one 
which outraged, the other, which honored 
him, his foul muft have been elevated by 
all the fentiments of national grandeur, and 

warmed 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 



217 



warmed by all the emotions of perfonal 
indignation. 

Thoroughly to underftand the impor- 
tance attached to the character of an orator, 
we fhould know that it was a fpecies of 
magirlracy, and conveyed fo much power 
to Demofthenes, that Philip faid, of all 
the Greeks, he feared only him. His 
temperament was naturally melancholy, 
and this gave him a ferioufnefs and feve- 
rity of manner, which much contributed 
to heighten the eftimation of his moral 
character. It was this which produced a 
boldnefs that would declare itfelf fo loudly 
againft Philip, and againft Alexander the 
conqueror of the world. Demofthenes 
always treats them with a haughtinefs 
which kings have never experienced from 
any other individual, who had no autho- 
rity but what was derived from his reputa- 
tion, no power but what depended on his 
eloquence. 

Atticifm is faid to confift in a perfect; 

purity of language, an entire freedom from 

all affectation, in a certain noble fimplicity, 

1 which 



2l8 COMMENTARIES ON 

which ought to have the air of converfa^ 
tion, although much more dignified and 
elevated. In all thefe qualities Demo- 
fthenes excelled. He had received from na-r 
ture a vaft and elevated genius, and a cou^. 
rage and application which nothing could 
ever check. When accomplished with all 
the knowledge requifite to his profeffion, 
he placed himfelf for the practical part of it 
under the care of the beft a&ors on the 
theatre, who, by their recitation of verfes 
from Sophocles and Euripides, convinced 
him of what importance pronunciation is 
to eloquence. Hence he acquired, in addi- 
tion to his native vehemence, fo animated 
an exterior, that his hearers felt to the bot- 
tom of their hearts the effect of his action. 
Longinus fays of him that he does not 
fucceed in moderate movements, that he 
wants flexibility, and has a certain degree 
of harfhnefs, which knows not how to 
manage pleafantry. It was for the fublime 
that Demofthenes was born : nature and 
ftudy had given him every thing that could 
conduce to this. He united all thofe qua-* 

lities 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 



219 



lities which conftitute the great orator ; 
a tone of majefty, a vehemence, a richnefs 
of endowments, addrefs, rapidity, and 
vigor in the higheft degree. 

Valerius Maximus reports that he had a 
piercing vivacity in his eyes, which had a 
wonderful effedt in rendering his counte- 
nance menacing and terrible. That he 
could give an inflexion to his voice, a tone 
to his words, an air to his whole perfon, 
which riveted the attention and com- 
manded the admiration of all who heard 
him. - 

Dionyfius ; Halicarnaffus makes it evi- 
dent, that Demofthenes fometimes imitates 
him, and copies thofe qualities which 
neither Lyfias nor Ifocrates could boaft, as 
that vehemence and ardour, roughnefs and 
alimony which give fpirit and force to 
oration, and are wonderfully fuccefsful in 
raifing the paffions ; and that he entirely 
avoids his obfcurity, uncommon phrafes, 
prepofterous figures, and irregular arrange- 
ment of periods. That he retains only 
what is ufeful and intelligible ; his fhort, 

abrupt, 



220 COMMENTARIES ON 

abrupt, and pungent fentences ; his eiu 
memes which are of admirable ufe in ora- 
tory, when properly introduced. Of all 
uninfpired writers, he is certainly the firft 
mailer of the fublimc. 

Cicero, having complimented the other 
Grecian orators, fays, Demofthenes unites 
in himfeJf the purity of Lylias, the fpirit 
of Hyperides, the fweetnefs of iEfchines, 
and in power of thought and movement of 
difcourfe, he is above them all ; in a word, 
we can imagine nothing more divine. 

This all-accomplifhed orator was de^ 
fcended of very low parents, his father 
having been only a blackfmith. He was 
born about three hundred and eighty-two 
years before Chrift. Having loft his pa- 
rents when he was young, he fell into the 
hands of tutors who, through negligence 
or parfimony, took no care of his educa- 
tion. His mother feconded this neglect by 
a falfe tendernefs to her fon. He was 
indeed of a delicate con dilution, which 
would not permit his being much prefled 
by ftudy : fo that at the age of fixteen, the 

period 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 221 

period fixed for the learning of rhetoric^ 
inftead of placing him under Ifocrates, who 
then had the higheft reputation, they fent 
him to the rhetorician Ifseus, where the 
cxpence was lefs ; and in whofe fchool he 
learned thofe bad habits, of which after- 
wards he took fuch pains to divert him- 
felf. 

This circumflance accounts for the ne- 
glect of his early education, but he after- 
wards became the pupil and fludied the 
works of the bell preceptors. The fortune 
acquired by his father in trade enabled 
him to place himfelf under their care, and 
the acquirements he derived from them 
gave him the power of exhibiting the firft 
fruits of his education in an eloquent and 
fuccefsful fpeech againft his guardians, who 
had embezzled his eftate. The difficulties 
he laboured under from nature and from 
habit, and the means he ufed to remove 
them, are too commonly known to need 
repetition, but it may be an encouragement 
to thofe who have fimilar defects, whether 
natural or acquired, to be reminded that he 

got 



222 COMMENTARIES ON 

got the better of an hefitation in his fpeech 
by reciting with pebbles in his mouth ; of 
diftorted features, by fpeaking before a 
mirror ; and that he ftrengthened a weak 
voice by running up the deepen: hills, and* 
by declaiming aloud on the fea fhore* 
taught himfelf to brave the tumult of a 
popular affembly. Hence the ' eloquence 
which was natural to Cicero, was the effect 
of much perfonal exertion in Demofthenes. 
This was inftigated by the moft laudable 
ambition of becoming an orator ; this it 
was that enabled him to vanquifh the bad 
inclinations of an age which pants only for 
pleafure, although he lived in a city aban- 
doned to delicacy and debauchery* Still he 
found it neceflary for a time to retire from 
the buftle of the world, and having fhaved 
one half of his head, that a fenfe of decent 
cy might compel him to be invifible, he 
applied himfelf entirely to the ftudy of 
eloquence. His paffion for the acquifition 
of this art, was firft excited by the applaufe 
which he faw given to Calliftratus in a 
caufe he pleaded, and from that moment 

it 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 22J 

it was the increafing obje£t of his contem- 
plation and defire. 

It lias indeed been faid that the firmnefs 
of Demofthenes fo long immoveable, his 
difintereftedne/s fo long fuftained, at length 
was found to faulter ; that, having for fome 
time elevated his voice againft the tyranny 
of Alexander, with the fame vehemence as 
he had attacked Philip, he in the end 
allowed himfelf to be bribed ; that twen- 
ty talents and a golden vafe induced him 
to feign illnefs that he might not mount 
the roftrum ; and that this dishonorable 
condudl: loft him the affeclions of the peo- 
ple, and compelled him to leave Athens as 
a banifhed man : Dinarchus, a venal orator, 
was his accufer. But Paufanias treats the 
charge as a calumny ; and it is fair to 
doubt the report, fince his end, in the eye 
of an heathen the mod courageous and 
laudable, appears a complete refutation of 
it. Returned to Athens after the d.eath of 
Alexander, he did not ceafe to declaim 
againft the tyranny of the Macedonians, 
until Antipater their king had obtained fuch 

power, 



224 COMMENTARIES ON 

power, as enabled him to feize all the 
orators who declared themfelves his ene- 
mies. 

Demofthenes attempted flight, but, find- 
ing himfelf in danger of being captured by 
his purfuers, he had recourfe to poifon, 
which he always carried with him, as an 
antidote againft a difgraceful death. Taking 
the cup in the prefence of Archias, who 
preffed him to yield to the conqueror of 
Greece, he faid, " Tell your mafter that 
Demofthenes will owe nothing to the ty- 
rant of his country." Thus perifhed this 
great man at the age of fixty. 

As feveral reafons concurred to give a 
decided pre-eminence to the poetry of the 
Greeks, fo the inftitutions of Athens exci- 
ted the talents of the orator, and called 
every one who diftinguiftied himfelf in that 
tranfcendent art to places of diftinctioft. 
They occupied them in the government of 
their country, and rivalry and praife were 
the incitement and the reward of genius 
and of learning, Greece was in the envied 
poffeffion of the mod tuneable language the 

world 



/ 



CLASSICAL LEARNING* . 22J 

world has ever known ; and the dialedts 
gave a grace and variety, a force and em- 
phafis to the expreflion of the fpeaker, in 
vain attempted amidft the poverty of mo- 
dern tongues. 

In refle&ing on the produ&ions of the 
ancients, the poet and the orator of modern 
times will be led to confider the advan- 
tages which the former had to boaft both in 
point of climate, language, and political 
arrangements. Thefe considerations will 
not prevent the moft vigorous efforts of in- 
genious minds to a laudable although 
hopelefs competition, and may at once fur- 
nifli them with a fubjeft of defpair and 
confolation. 



1±6 COMMENTARIES ON 



SECTION VIII. 

On the Grecian Hiftorians.-— Cadmus, — Hecataus. — Hero- 
dotus.-— Thucidydes. — Xenophon. — Polybius. — Diodoruf 
Siculus, — Dionyfius of Halicarnajfus.—Appian. — Ar- 
Yvan . —Dion Cajjius, —Herodian . 

JidiSTORY feems in its origin to have been 
only a collection of fimple facts entrufted 
to oral tradition and engraven on the 
memory by the affiftance of poetry, or elfe 
recorded by public monuments calculated 
to perpetuate the remembrance of impor- 
tant events. 

It has been frequently committed to the 
durable memorials of brafs and ftone, of 
ftatues and medallions. Of the latter, a 
great number have efcaped the ravages of 
time ; and have not only gratified the cu- 
riohty of the antiquary, but enabled men 
of laborious and ufeful refearch to clear 

up 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 227 

up difputed points of hiftory and to efta- 
blifh the epochs of the remoteft ages. 

The early writers were compelled by 
their education and other circumftances to 
confine their hiftory to the account of a 
fingle city or ftate, becaufe they were igno- 
rant of the fituation of the different nation s 
of the world. Above five hundred years 
before Chrift, Cadmus wrote an account of 
the antiquities of Miletus the capital of 
Ionia, his native country; and Hecatseus 
his countryman, ventured to extend his 
views to Egypt, and to throw a ray of 
light on geography by his defcription of 
the earth. But thefe topographers were 
not deferving the name of hiftorians ; and 
their reputation, whatever it might have 
been, was loft in the blaze of glory which 
fhortly after their day furrounded the 
great father of hiftory. 

Herodotus was born about four hundred 

and eighty- four years before Chrift at 

Halicarnaflus in Caria. The troubles of 

his country firft brought him into Greece^ 

0^2 where 



228 COMMENTARIES ON 

where his talents obtained him a welcome 
reception. 

It is to him we are indebted for the lit. 
tie we know of the ancient dynafties of the 
Medes, Perfians, Phoenicians, Lydians, 
Greeks, Egyptians, and Scythians. He 
had the merit of connecting the events of 
time and place, and forming one regular 
whole from a number of detached parts. 
The Greeks acknowledged their high obli- 
gations to him, for unfolding to them the 
hiftory of the then known world for two 
hundred and forty years. He fhewed them 
nations jealous and difquiet, difunited by 
intereft yet conne&ed by the alliances 
produced in times of war, fighing for liber- 
ty and groaning under tyranny. When 
he read publicly at "the Olympic games his 
account of the bloody contefts between the 
Perfians and the Greeks from Cyrus to 
Xerxes, compofed in his thirty- ninth year ? 
his veracity receives an atteftation from the 
high honor which was given to him at this 
great affembly of the Greeks. The name 

of 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 229 

of one of the mufes was beftowed on each 
of his nine books by his contemporaries! 
and will be attached to them as long 
as the writings of the hiftorian fhall exift. 

" His eager country, in the Olympic vale 

Throngs with proud joy to catch the martial tale* 
Behold where Valour, reiting on his lance, 
Drinks the fweet found in rapture's filent trance : 
Then with a grateful fhout of loud acclaim, 
Hails the juil herald of his country's fame." 

Hayley. 

Herodotus has frequently been accufed 
of neglecting that fmcerity which is the 
higheft merit of an hiftorian, to record the 
marvellous and incredible. Such accufa- 
tions may probably be in a great meafure 
repelled. The moderns are too apt to doubt 
every thing which is contrary to their expe- 
rience, and to impute to Greek hiftorians 
a defire of gratifying their countrymen in 
their eager love for whatever was connect- 
ed with novelty or with fable. The de* 
fcriptions given of Egypt by Herodotus, 
have frequently been verified by travellers 
in points where he was difcredited ; and it 
Qw3 fhould 



230 COMMENTARIES ON 

fhould always be obferved, that where he 
receives his account from others, he does 
not vouch for their authenticity but re- 
ports only that he had heard. This parti- 
cularly applies to thofe incidents which 
relate to the Affyrians and Medes and to 
the earlier part of the Egyptian hiftory. 

Some errors have certainly been detected 
and expofed by Ctefias, who was phyfician 
to Artaxerxes at Sufa, refpefting Affyria 
and Perfia, but of whom only fragments 
remain. 

Plutarch has fpoken with difrefpecT: of 
Herodotus; but be it recolleded that he 
was a Theban, and that his countrymen 
had abandoned the caufe of Greece and 
become the auxiliaries of Xerxes. It was 
a difgrace which could only be effaced by 
arraigning the truth of the hiftorian who 
recorded it. The ftory which concerned 
all Greece, all Greece in a public affem- 
bly declared to be true ; and honored the 
reciter of it, with a more public and 
fplendid encomium than any other writer 
can boaft 

Such 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 23I 

Such were the fentiments of his contem- 
poraries ; and to the lateft pofterity, he has 
conveyed an account of the mod cele- 
brated country in the world and ren- 
dered intelligible the relations of its 
poets. 

It has perhaps with more grounds been 
faid, that if we look for clear method, 
deep reflection, or acute criticifm in this 
author, we fhall probably be difappointed. 
That though his relation of fads is inte- 
refting from its fimpHcity, and his Ge- 
fcriptions are attractive by their vivacity • 
yet he does not dive deeply into characters, 
nor form a corred judgment of political 
inftitutions. From an avidity of relating 
events, he does not flop to confider their 
eaufes or juftly and accurately to bellow 
blame and approbation. Moral truths and 
common fads, fine fpeeches and bad 
adions, good laws and tyrannical edids, 
are tranfmitted in the fame manner, with- 
out any analyfis of charaders or of princi- 
ples 5 and the condud of men is defcribed 
q^4 like 



232 COMMENTARIES ON 

like the vegetation of plants, without a 
fingle reflexion from the hiftorian. 

But the ftyle of Herodotus is fo elegant* 
that Dionyfius declares him to be one o* 
thofe enchanting writers whom you read 
to the laft fyllable with pleafure and ftill 
wifh for more : and his admirers contend, 
that he is fimple and unaffedted in the 
choice of his words and that his metaphor 8 
approach to poetry; that no writer has 
more exactly founded the depth of his own 
genius; that he has no irregular fallies of 
wit, no turgid fwell of didion, no tower- 
ing flights of imagination. 

It is very eafy to perceive that he is an 
imitator of Homer. He refembles him in 
copioufnefs of invention, elegance of phrafe; 
in fweetnefs, eafe, and perfpicuity; and 
unlike all others, what he has imitated he 
has equalled. Theophraftus, that vene- 
rable Greek and candid critic, allows that 
he firft introduced ornaments into the ftyle 
of hiftory, and carried the art of writing to 
perfection. 

The. 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 233 

The fpeech of Xerxes in the feventh 
book, has been refembled to that of Hec- 
tor when calling on his foldiers to burn 
the Grecian mips; The tone of an arbi- 
trary prince who confiders mankind as 
(laves, is exactly expreffed in the language 
of the hiftorian. 

" For the fake of Darius and the other 
Perfians, I will never ceafe till I take and 
burn Athens. For thefe reafons I am pro- 
voked to make war againft them. Thus 
will we extend the Perfian empire, till it 
have no confine but the fky. The fun 
fhall fee no land adjacent to our domi- 
nions. I will traverfe all Europe, and 
reduce the whole earth under your fway." 

The beautiful defcription of an eclipfe 
in the fame book, when Xerxes had lafhed 
the ocean for its difobedience and thrown 
a bridge over the Hellefpont, has been juft- 
ly compared to the darknefs fpread over 
the body of Patroclus, 

f< In one thick darknefs all the fight was loft, 
fjie fun, the moon, and all the ethereal hofl 

Seemed 



234 COMMENTARIES ON 

Seemed as extin£t ; day ravifhed from their eyes ; 
And all Heaven's fplendor blotted from the Ikies." 

Another quotation has been made from 
the fame part of the work, in which the 
author evidently borrows an idea from 
Homer. 

Artabanes the uncle of Xerxes tells him, 
that he is endowed with prudence but is 
led aftray by the converfation of wicked 
men, 

" Juft as they fay, the breath of the 
winds falling on the fea, the moll ufeful of 
all things to mankind, hinders it from en-> 
joying its own natural ftate." 

The allufion is certainly a very beautiful 
one ; and well represents the fituation of 
a mind naturally tranquil, when agitated 
by the furious paffions of others. 

The hiflorian in many other inftances 
borrows the figures, fentiments, and ex-* 
preffiony of the poet who will ever be left 
in the exclufive poffeffion of innumerable 
graces which are not attainable by any 
imitator. 

But 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 235 

But Herodotus was not only a poeti- 
cal, he was an oratorical hiftorian. 
Cicero, the heft judge of ftyle, confiders 
him in this light : and fays that no elo- 
quence ever pleafed him like his ; nothing 
fo alluring, fo gentle and fo ftrong, fo 
ravifhing and fo convincing. In Herodo- 
tus he finds nothing of that harfhnefs that 
offends in many of the profe writers. The 
foft ftyle glides like the clear ftream of 
fome deep river, keeping its courfe unin- 
terruptedly along and every where alike. 
It is Cicero who gives him the honorable 
title of father of hiftory, not for his anti- 
quity but his excellence. To fo great an 
authority, the world will readily defer ; and 
when they obferve the futility of the ob- 
jections brought againft him, they will 
obferve that the waves of calumny dafh 
themfelves in pieces againft the rocks 
which they labour to undermine. 

THUCIDTDES. 

Thucidydes was only thirteen years 
younger than Herodotus, and defcended 

from 



2$6 COMMENTARIES ON 

from one of the firft families in Athens* 
He was bred a foldier ; but having been 
prevented by Bralidas the Lacsedemonian 
general from relieving the befieged city of 
Arnphipolis, he was punifhed by banifh- 
ment. At iEgina, a fmall ifland of the 
Peloponnefus, where he died at the age of 
fifty after a refidence of twenty years, he 
wrote his hiftory. His fondnefs for travel 
fuftained him in his misfortunes ; and a 
large fortune brought him by his wife, 
enabled him to afce-rtain every thing con- 
nected with his dcfign. He ferved his 
country both by his fword and by his pen. 
As his appointments had acquainted him 
with the affairs of his own republic, his 
exile opened to him thofe of the Lacedae- 
monians ; which to a writer at a diftance, 
party zeal would have obfcured. This 
circumftance fortunate for the world, ena- 
bled him to collect materials for the hiftory 
of the Peloponnefian war ; of the grcateft 
part of which he was an eye witnefs. 

Of the twenty-efeven years the term of 

its duration, he has left the annals of 

4 twenty-* 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 2$J 

twenty-one ; and the remainder were writ. 
ten by Xenophon. 

No writer was ever better prepared to be 
an hiftorian by the combination of know- 
ledge and probity, than Thucidydes. The 
foldier, the ftatefman, and the philofo- 
pher, are discoverable in his works. 

They contain the precepts of wifdom he 
had learned from Anaxagoras, and the leC 
fons of eloquence he had received from the 
orator Antiphon. To thefe may be added 
an averfion to injuftice and a paffion for 
virtue. The excellence he attained, was 
the refult of early emulation ; for being 
prefent at the age of fifteen on the occa- 
fion when Herodotus recited his hiftory at 
the Olympic games, he was fo much affec- 
ted as to burft into tears. 

It has been obje&ed to him, that his ftyle 
is fo concife as to be obfcare and harfh, 
and that he ufes both novel and obfolete 
words ; that his language is unpolifhed, 
and the ftru&ure of his fentences pre- 
pofterous, 

Dionyfius 



2$8 COMMENTARIES ON 

Dionyfius HalicarnafTenfis finds many 6 ' 
faults in him, with a view of giving the 
fuperiority to his countryman Herodotus ; 
he fays that he obferves no conne&ion* 
and falls into a drynefs of ftyle which 
renders his difcourfes hard and fettered. 
His panegyrifts declare, that thejuftnefsand 
dignity of his fentiments when after re- 
peated perufals they are underftood, re- 
quite the pains which are required for the 
difcovery ; that the narrative part, is a 
model worthy of imitation. 

The debate between the ambaffadors of 
Corinth and Athens in the firft book, is 
managed in a clear and elegant manner. 
The troubles of Corcyra, gave the hiftorian 
an opportunity of making a digreffion on 
the factions which arife in a ftate and the 
diforders which enfue. His reflections on 
the fubjed, are worthy the particular at- 
tention of politicians, legiflators, and ftatef- 
men. His defcription of the plague at 
Athens, has been imitated by the beft of the 
Latin poets and extolled by every reader 
. 9 of 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 239 

of learning and of tafte. Lucretius bor- 
rows copioufly from it in his fixth book ; 
Virgil both in his third iEneid and third 
Georgic ; and Ovid and Statius have had 
it in their view. Thucidydes aims rather 
at the fublimity of Pindar, than at the 
fimplicity of Homer. The admirable 
fpeech which Pericles makes in the firfl 
book when he advifes the Athenians to go 
to war, exhibits fentiments of greatnefs 
and elevation. ct Let us not regret the 
lofs of our lands and country houfes, let 
us regret the lofs of our liberty. We were 
not made for our eftates y but our eftates 
for us. I fear our own vices, more than all 
the advantages of our enemies. Great and 
perilous enterprizes alone conftitute glory 
and reputation." 

But the funeral oration of the fame 
fpeaker in the fecond book, appears to 
contain every beauty of which the fuh. 
jeft is capable, Ifccrates imitated it in 
his panegyric, and Plato in his Meaexe- 
nuso 

When 



- $4° COMMENTARIES ON 

When he fpeaks of the manners and 
government of Athens, he fays, " Our 
ftate is popular, becaufe its end is the pub- 
He good, not the aggrandifement of indivi- 
duals ; and honor is not given to birth, but 
to merit. We love politenefs without 
loving luxury ; and we apply ourfelves to 
the ftudy of philofophy, without abandon- 
2 ng ourfelves to that effeminacy of idlenefs 
which is the ordinary companion of this 
ftudy. We only efteem riches for their 
ufe ; and do not think it a reproach to be 
poor, but not to do that which muft be 
done to avoid poverty/* 

The politenefs of the Athenians, is well 
oppofed to the Spartan roughnefs an4 feve- 
rity. Of the former he fays, " We re- 
frefh the mind with frequent recefles from 
labour, by our annual feftivals and games 
and our elegant entertainments in private. 
Thefe pleafures thus frequently renewed, 
C'xpel all melancholy. 

" Pindar fays, that joy is the beft phyfi- 
cian to labour, the wife fongs of the Mufe 
fweeten our toils." 

Of 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 24I 

Of his countrymen he obferves : 

" Our brave and noble deeds are fo 
many illuftrious proofs of our power, and 
will make us the admiration of the prefent 
and future ages. We want no Homer to 
found our praifes ; our courage has opened 
to us a paffage through every land and fea, 
and we have every where erefted eternal 
monuments of our hoftility or beneficence. 
By giving their bodies to the public, they 
have procured to themfelves immortal 
praife. 

" The whole earth is a monument to 
illuftrious men ! The infcription on a do- 
medic tomb is not the only teftimony of 
their virtue; but even in remote nations, 
the memory of their glorious actions is 
engraven more deeply on the hearts of men, 
than on the marble at home.'' 

" Fortune," fays Pindar, " often wrefts 
from brave men their glory. You know the 
fate of Ajax, who, when fupplanted by the 
corrupt arts of his inferior, fell upon his 
fword. But Homer by his divine poetry, 
has made all mankind honor and admire 
E hi* 









242 Commentaries on 

his virtues ; the immortal Mufe goes on 
fublimely founding through all ages, and 
fpreads the unextinguifhed fplendour of 
heroic deeds over the fruitful earth and 
boundlefs ocean." 

Accuracy, impartiality and fidelity cha- 
ra&erife Thucidydes, and no refentment 
againft the Athenians for their fevere treat- 
ment is evident in any part of his work. 
He mentions his banifhment but (lightly, 
and reprefents Brafidas, whofe glory eclipfed 
his own, as a man eminently great. His 
ftyle is ardent,- rapid and bold. He deli- 
neates his fubject with a few happy ftrokes, 
and leaves much to the imagination of the 
reader. The following is the comparifon 
made between him and the hiftorian of 
HalicarnaiTus by Quintilian. 

" Thucidydes is comprefled, brief, and 
always equal to himfelf. Herodotus, fweet, 
clear, and diffufe ; the former, great in ex- 
citing the vehement, the other the fofter 
affections ; that in animated fpeeches, this 
In calmer ones j that in force, this in beau- 

ty." 

Herodotus 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 



H3 



Herodotus certainly had a higher fub- 
ject, for it included all that was great in 
Europe and Afia, amongft the Greeks and 
the Barbarians. It has been faid that his 
great defire to pleafe made him fometimes 
deviate from truth. Without deciding a 
queftionable point, it may be afferted that 
his character was deftitute of that folidity 
and love of labour which are requifite to a 
faithful hiftorian. 

In thefe refpe&s, and in many others, 
Thucidydes had the advantage. Attach- 
ment to truth appears in him a fettled and 
religious principle, and his piety is a pro- 
minent feature in his works. 

In the feventh book, fpeaking of a vir- 
tuous but unfortunate General, he fays, 
" Thus perifhed Nicias, who of all thofe of 
his time was leaft worthy to perifh in that 
manner on account of his having always 
been attached to the fervice of the gods." 

Marcellinus, who has left a fragment of 

his life, aflerts that he was defcended from 

the blood royal of Thrace, and that Mil- 

tiades and Cimon, two illuftrious generals 

R 2 of 



^44 COMMENTARIES Otf 

of Athens, were numbered amongft his 
anceftors. A confcioufoefs of noble birth 
might probably tend to infpire him with 
thofe high fentiments of honor and dignity 
for which he is confpicuous almoft above 
every ancient writer. Cicero fays of him, 
" that he furpaffes in noblenefs of ftyle, 
and in the art of eloquence, all thofe who 
have written ; he is fo full of great fenti- 
ments, that the number of his thoughts 
almoft equals that of his words, and he is 
fo accurate and coucife in what he fays, 
that it is difficult to determine if he moft 
adorn things by words, or words by things. 
That he has a dignity of mind, a force of 
imagination, a vigour of language, a depth 
of feafoning, a clearnefs of conception, ima- 
gery, colours, and expreffions, of which all 
the other Greek hiftorians are deftitute." 

Thefe are not the endowments of nature 
only, but partly the acquifitions 4 of ftudy. 
His biographer accordingly tells us, that 
he attached himfelf to an excellent pre- 
ceptor, Prodicus of the ifle of Cos, for the 
exact choice of terms, and to Gorgias 

9 Leontinus 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 245 

Leontinus for order and arrangement ; that 
he learned perfuafion of Socrates, and 
formed himfelf on the model of Pindar for 
the fublime. 

To an inftitution fo perfect, was added 
the great advantage which is always de- 
rived from a noble emulation. The ap- 
plaufe acquired by Herodotus was a daily 
incentive to his induftry, and excitement 
to his genius. He flood upon the moulders 
of the giant and took in a wider field of 
obfervation. He marked his excellencies 
and defeds, and, difdaining to be a fervile 
copier, he merited the praife of a judicious 
critic. 

He confidered Herodotus as having 
undertaken too extenfive a fubjed, and 
determined to avoid a fimilar error ; he 
thought him a cold narrator of fads, and 
to that we owe the eloquence he difplays. 
He cenfured his hiftory as prolix, and 
willingly facrificed fome beauties to con- 
cifenefs. The Attic dialed of Thucidydes 
was appropriated to fire and fpirit, to dig- 
nity and elevated fentiments, as the Ionic 



R 3 Of 



246 COMMENTARIES ON 

of Herodotus was to all the fofter ones. 
Thucidydes works upon the paflions; 
Herodotus entertains the fancy rather than 
captivates the heart. The one is an ora- 
torical, the other a poetical hiftorian. 

Thucidydes derived many advantages 
from 'an intimate acquaintance with So- 
crates, Plato, Critias, Alcibiades, Pericles, 
and all the other great men of an age the 
moll polifhed that the Greeks had known. 
This circumftance tended to fill his mind 
with fuch great ideas and found principles 
as were eminently ufeful both to the mari 
and to the hiftorian.. Learned a$ he was., 
he knew the world ftill better than books ; 
he had deeply ftudied mankind, and could 
penetrate to the mod hidden receffes of the 
heart. He could trace the effeQs of rivalry, 
jarring interefts and paflions ; and from 
thence he draws thofe lively, ardent, pathe* 
tic defcriptions with which he embellifhes 
his work. From thence he takes his nar> 
ration of battles, fieges, warlike expeditions, 
and all thofe agitations which happen Ui 
republics. From this fruitful fource, th$ 

knowledge 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 



247 



knowledge of human manners, he repre- 
fents every thing naturally and correctly,, 
and by an irrefiftible eloquence commands 
the attention of his readers. He was in- 
deed completely eloquent before Ariftotle 
had written rules for the art. His ftyle is 
the image of his mind ; the one ferious 
and dignified, the other manly, vigorous, 
and replete w T ith that force and energy 
which diftinguifh him from all other 
authors. His high notion of the fublime 
rendered him inattentive to trifling matters, 
which revolts the prudifh grammarian. 
He difregarded change of tenfes, numbers 
and perfons, provided he could infert more 
warmth and vehemence into his di&ion. 
If his narration be not always connected, 
the error proceeds lefs from the nature of his 
difpofition than from that of his fubjed: the 
war had no fettled principle ; the campaigns 
were not formed by preconcerted regula- 
tions ; all pafled tumultuoufly according to 
the movement of the oppofing interefts 
and paflions of thofe who waged it. If 
the ufe of hiftory be to give inftrudion 
R 4 under 



248 COMMENTARIES ON 

under the form of examples, where is this 
to be found fo well as in Thucidyxies, who 
affords a feries of moral leflbns ftthed to the 
greateft perfons, and delivered in the great- 
eft manner. The natural dignity of his 
way of thinking, and his judicious applica- 
tion of rhetorical figures, give at the fame 
time weight and fplendour to his fenti- 
ments. Sound reafoning and exacT; judg- 
ment complete the whole of his literary 
charader. Trifling errors are to be par- 
doned where there is fo much of excellence 5 
the brighteft fire is occafionally clouded by 
fmoke, the lovelieft landfcape is fometimes 
intercepted by vapour. 

XENOPHOK 

About four hundred and forty-nine years 
before the chriftian aera, Athens boafted the 
birth of this elegant hiftorian. In the 
fchool of Socrates he acquired all thofe 
martial talents, domeftic virtues, and philo- 
fophical endowments which diftinguifhed a 
life protra&ed to the extraordinary age of 

ninety. 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 249 

ninety. The teftimonies he has left accord 
with the appellation bellowed upon him 
by his countrymen : they called him the 
Attic Bee ; and from the fweetnefs of his 
ftyle he appears to have well deferved the 
title. 

He added feven books to the hiftory of 
Thucidydes, wrote an account of the life 
and a&ions of Cyrus the Great, and of the 
retreat of the ten thoufand Greeks, whom, 
after the defeat and fall of their leader, 
he condudted home in a perilous march 
of eighteen hundred miles, with a refolu- 
tion and fagacity which have never been 
excelled. 

A modern poet thus chara&erifes him : 

'* O rich in ail the blended gifts that grace 
Minerva's darling fons of Attic race ; 
The fage's olive, the hiftorian's palm, 
The victor's laurel, all thy name embalm. 
Thy fimple di&ion, free from glaring art, 
With fweet allurements fteals upon the heart, 
Pure as the rill that Nature's hand refines, 
Clear as thy harmony of foul it mines." 

Hayley. 

While 



2JO COMMENTARIES ON 

While the foldier has always admirecj 
his talents in conducing, and the fcholar 
in defcribing the retreat, the philofopher 
and ftatefman have alike been delighted 
with his charming work of the inflitution 
of Cyrus. His contemporaries regarded 
him with veneration, and Scipio and Lu- 
cullus perufed him with avidity. He had 
the charms of Attic eloquence, with a 
Spartan foul. When he was facrificing to 
the god^his head crowned with flowery, 
mefTengers arrived to tell him that his fori 
was killed in the battle of Mantinea ; he 
took up the chaplet and burft into tears: 
but when they added that his fon, fighting 
to the laft breath, had mortally wounded 
the general of the enemy, he re-afTumedL 
his chaplet ; " I knew," faid he, " that my 
fon was mortal, and his glory ought to con- 
fole me for his death. " 

When the work of Thucidydes fell 
into his hands, he not only ingenuoufly 
publifhed it, but himfelf added the tranf- 
a£tions of the war fubfequent to the period 

where 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. fcjfl 

where the former had left it. This con- 
tinuation is come down to us under the 
namfc of the Hellenica. 

The Cyropsedia has frequently been 
called a romance. The object of the writer 
was probably to pleafe the elder Cyrus, by 
defcribing the chara&er of an accomplished 
prince ; and many converfations and fome 
events are imaginary. But truth is ftill 
blended with fidion, as in the account of 
the capture of Babylon, which was a real 
event. His imitations of Homer may be 
traced by the moft carelcfs reader. The 
decifive battle in the feventh book betwixt 
Cyrus and the Aflyrians has traits of ftrik- 
ing refemblance with many of the combats 
in the Iliad. 

The Hiftorian obferves, that 

M In that quarter of the army there 
was a great flaughter of men, a great noife 
pf clafhing arms and darts, great cries of 
the combatants, fome calling on others, 
fome exhorting, fome invoking the gods. 

The 



252 COMMENTARIES ON 

The poet fings, 

(t Now fhield with fhield, with helmet helmet clofed ; 
To armor armor, lance to lance oppofed. 
Victors and vanquifhed join promiscuous cries, 
And mriiling (houts and dying groans arife." 

Pope, 

In the fourth book, Xenophon fhews 
himfelf mafter of the pathetic, where he 
introduces Gobrias recounting to Cyrus 
the murder of his fon by the Aflyrian 
prince, to which cruel deed he had been 
incited by his envy of him as a fuperior 
markfman. 

" My only fon, O Cyrus ! beautiful 
and virtuous, who loved and honored me 
with fuch a filial tendernefs and refpe£t, as 
made a father happy ; — this fon the pre- 
fent king deprived of life, plunging a 
fpear into the bofom of my dear and only 
child ; and I, unhappy man, carried home 
a dead body inftead of a bridegroom, and 
at this age buried this excellent and darling 
fon, murdered in the bloom of life." 

In 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 253 

In the expedition of the younger Cyrus, 
being himfelf a principal actor, his imagi- 
nation is much more vivid, and his diction 
much more ornamented. 

When he defcribes his countrymen rufh- 
ing to the battle, he fays, " As they pro- 
ceeded, when any part of the phalanx by 
their quick advance outftripped the reft, 
making the line fwell out like a billow 
thofe left behind began to run, and at the 
fame time an univerfal fhout was heard, 
fuch as is made in the exclamation to 
Mars." 

At the beginning of the third book, 
when many of the generals had fallen 
victims to the treachery of TiiTaphernesj 
the reflections of the army on their wretch- 
ed fituation, thrijjjw them into a ftate bor- 
dering on defpair. " Few tafted meat that 
night, few kindled fires ; many neglected 
the duty of the camp ; every man threw 
himfelf down, but was unable to ileep 
through grief and regret at the lofs of his 
country, parents, wife and children." This 
has been well refembled to the perplexity 

of 



2J4 COMMENTARIES Oft 

of Agamemnon in the ninth and terith 
Iliad, after the defeat of the Grecians ; 

* c Now o'er the fields, dejedted, he furveys 

From thoufand Trojan fires the mounting blaze, 
Hears in the paffing wind their mufic blow, 
And marks diftindr. the voices of the foe. 
Now looking backward to the fleet and coaft, 
Anxious he for rows for the endangered hoft. 
He rends his hairs in facrifice to Jove, 
And fues to him that ever lives above. 
Inly he groans, while glory and defpair 
Divide his heart, and wage a doubtful war." 

Perhaps however the moft interesting, 
certainly the moft celebrated, part of the 
Anabafis is that where the author defciibes 
the exultations of joy in the Grecian army 
on their firft diicovery of the fea, the firft 
harbinger of a fafe return to their coun- 
try. 

" A great fhout was raifed at the fight 
of fo welcome an object; Xenophon, 
alarmed, for he commanded in the rear, 
the poft of danger and of honor, mounts a 
horfe, and rides up with fome other officers 
to enquire into the caufe of this tumul- 
tuous noife ; and immediately they hear the 

foldiers 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 255 

foldiers crying, the fea ! the fea ! and con- 
gratulating one another." 

The beautiful words of the original lan- 
guage are an inftance in which the found 
is an echo to the fenfe. 

Thefe natural effufions of furprize and 
of delight afFe£t the reader with the mod 
lively fympathy, fuch as a laboured de- 
fcription would vainly have endeavoured to 
excite. 

Xenophon was more captivated by the 
ftyle of Herodotus than by that of Thuci- 
dydes, and there are many paffages in 
which he has imitated him. The ancient 
orators and hiftorians ufed that figure in 
rhetoric the moft freely, which beft ac- 
corded with their difpofition. Thucidydes 
has frequently recourfe to the hyperbaton^ 
becaufe his prevailing qualities were force 
and fpirk. In Xenophon the metaphor 
Is moft confpicuous, becaufe his character 
was eafe and fimplicity. " The Graces," 
fays Quintilian, " formed his ftyle, and the 
goddefs of Perfuafion dwelt upon his lips*" 
2 Befides 



2j6 COMMENTARIES Oft 

Befides fweetnefs, Xenophon has &lfb 
variety of language equally adapted to 
great occafions and to familiar dialogues. 
The chain of his compofitiori feems to 
have been formed at once, and difpofed 
link by link with perfect regularity. It 
always has the fame lucid order, the pro- 
duction of a clear head, and always con- 
veys the fame amiable fentiments, the 
offspring of an upright heart. The num- 
ber of fpeeches in the writings of this 
hiftorian feems to be his greateft defect. 
They are very numerous in Thucidydes, 
but they are not too numerous becaufe they 
are fo fpirited. They abound in Herodo- 
tus, but their elegance fecures them from 
criticifm. The fimplicity of Xenophon 
renders them tedious and dull, when intro- 
duced on trivial occafions ; but when a 
proper one occurs, he yields not to any 
adept in declamation ; as when Cyrus re- 
commends unanimity in an army. His 
dying fpeech to his fons alfo is not more 
remarkable for its good fenfe, than for its 
eloquence. 

In 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 



257 



In his attempts at wit he generally fails. 
The effufions of fancy and imagination are 
ftriking when they are unpremeditated ; 
but he whole conception is flow and labour- 
ed, can never exped a happy delivery. 

His philofophy appears in his account 
of the memorable actions and fayings of 
Socrates, ' and in his apology for that 
divine man. 

His fentiments on the fubject of death, 
were the fame with thofe of his preceptor, 
whom he nearly refembled in all the quali- 
ties of his mind ; but to Plato he was a ri- 
val and an enemy. 

No writer was ever more rationally reli- 
gious : Herodotus had a refpecT: for forms, 
Xenophon for the eflence. He always 
treats the fubjecT: in a. manner fo awful 
and folemn, as fhews it to be the venera- 
tion of the heart. 

If his ftyle fometimes appear cold, it is 
always pure : if his works feem deficient in 
bufmefs and in buftle, they are always re- 
plete with inftru&ion : if the ftory be dull, 

s it 



258 COMMENTARIES ON 

it contains a fober and ufeful leflbn of 
morality. 

His general excellence will excufe, 
though it may tend to difcover a few tri- 
fling defe&s ; as the fmalleft flaws are moft 
eafily diftinguifhable in the brighteft dia- 
monds. 

It is unpleafant to reflect on the number 
of authors in every department of learning, 
of whom little more has reached pofterity 
than either their mere names, or a few 
fragments which ferve but to excite regret 
at the deftru£tion of their labours. 

Learning indeed has been a veflel tofled 
and fhattered in a tempeftuous ocean, and 
we are too apt to prize every piece of 
wreck which has been caft upon the fhore, 
however trivial and ufelefs. Many hifto- 
rians who lived between the time of Xeno- 
phon and Polybius are in this predicament ; 
and ifTheopompus the difciple of Ifocrates 
obtained a prize for the bed funeral oration 
in honor of Maufolus, when his matter 
was his competitor ; Quintilian, who places 

him 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 



259 



him next to Herodotus and Thucidydes, 
muft have had a far more certain criterion 
to decide his merit, than poflerity can 
boaft in the fcanty relics of his works. 
That Philiftus was a perfpicuous, and 
Ephorus a voluminous writer ; or that the 
genius of Clitarchus was lefs queftionable 
than his veracity, are facts which we can 
know only by teftimony : nor can we ap- 
preciate either their abftradl: or comparative 
deferts, fince the violence or the accidents 
of time have left them only the " bafelefs 
fabric of a vifion." 

POLYBIUS. 



Polybius was born at Megalopolis in 
Peloponnefus, about two hundred years be„ 
fore Chrift. He poflefied advantages which 
few perfons can boaft ; for his father was not 
only a man of rank and family, but a general 
and a ftatefman. The advantages he derived 
from thefe fortunate circumftances, gave a 
colour to every incident of his life. 

§ 2 From. 



26o COMMENTARIES ON 

From his youth he was inftru&ed in the 
fcience of politics, and his education was as 
finifhed a one as an anxious and accom- 
plifhed parent could make it. He attended 
his father when he went ambaflador to 
Egypt ; and his diligence in acquainting him- 
felf with every thing refpecting that country, 
was a prelude to the confummate knowledge 
which he afterwards attained of the quarters 
of the globe which were then known. 

His patriotifm difplayed itfelf in fighting 
againft the Romans as the enemies of his 
country; but when the defeat of Perilus ex- 
pofed that cowardly monarch to the derifion 
of his conqueror, Polybius was fpared the 
mortification of being dragged as a Have to 
adorn a triumph which his perfonal valour 
would have deferved. 

True merit is always acknowledged by a 
generous enemy. The fatal battle of Pydna 
and the cowardice of his fugitive com- 
mander, left him acaptive; in which fituation 
he was conduded to Rome : yet Scipio and 
Fabius admired his virtues, and by every 
effort of honourable folicitation acquired his 

friendfhip, 



mu 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 261 

friendship. His profeffion of a foldier was 
Hill dear to him, and the victor of Carthage 
eagerly fought the affiftance of thofe military 
talents of which he had long known the 
extent and the value. 

The love of his country was unbounded, 
and he evinced it to the laft moment of his 
exiftence. When it became a province to 
Rome, his power and influence tended to 
confole and leifen its diftrefTes ; and when 
Scipio was dead, he returned thither and 
parTed the remainder of his life, which ter- 
minated in the eighty-fecond year of his 
age by a fall from his horfe. 

Whilft he lived amongft the Romans, fo 
conftant was his application to ftudy and fo 
fuccefsful was the refult of it, that he is faid 
not only to have made himfelf mafter of 
their language, but to have become better 
acquainted with their laws than their own 
ftatefmen. 

Such was his ardour after military know- 
ledge, that he traced every ftep of Hannibal's 
march over the Alps and every conqueft of 
Scipio in Spain. His acquaintance at Rome, 

s 3 the 



262 COMMENTARIES ON 

the befl; and greateft men in the republic, 
refpe&ed and efteemed him; Conftantine 
confulted him as an oracle of truth ; and 
the Greeks ere&ed ftatues to him as their 
friend and protector. 

With thefe acquirements he wrote an 
univerfal hiftory in forty books, from the 
commencement of the fecond Punic war 
to the conqueft of Macedon by Paulus 
iEmilius ; an eventful period of fifty-three 
years. Of thefe, five books only are entire, 
with fragments of the fucceeding twelve. 

Polybius is not eloquent like Thucidydes, 
nor poetical like Herodotus, nor perfpicuous 
like Xenophon. He gives us the firft rough 
draught of his thoughts, and feldom impofes 
on himfelf the trouble to arrange or me- 
thodize them. They are often vague and 
defultory, and not unfrequently deviate en- 
tirely from the fubjedh 

His ftyle has no cadence, rhythm, or 
meafured harmony ; and by thefe defe&s 
one of the nobleft hiftoriesis greatly injured : 
but his language only can be cenfured, for 
jn the higher qualities of an hiftorian he has 

no 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 263 

no fuperior. A love of truth predominates 
in his writings, he has judgment to trace 
effects to their caufes, he has knowledge 
of his fubjecT: drawn from every fource that 
could produce it, he has boldnefs of mind 
which prompts him to declare what he 
knew, and he has impartiality which forbids 
him to conceal it. His defcription of a 
battle has never been equalled; and it muft 
gratify every military man whofe education 
enables him to perufe Polybius, to compare 
ancient with modern tactics. On thefe 
occafions he exhibits all the warmth and 
vehemence in recital which diftinguifhed 
him in the field ; it is then evident, that he 
does not calmly and coldly relate what he 
had heard, but that he paints in vivid colours 
the fcenes he had witnefTed. His writings 
have been admired by the warrior, copied 
by the politician, and imitated by the hif- 
torian. Brutus had him ever in his hands, 
Tully tranfcribed him, and many of the 
fined paffages of Livy are the property of 
the Greek hiftorian. 



s 4 



His 



264 COMMENTARIES ON 

His character however is much depre- 
ciated by an imputation of atheifm, from 
which his panegyrifts have not been able to 
defend him. He declared the gods to be 
a fraudful invention, the offspring of priefts 
and politicians; and all religion he denomi- 
nated fuperftition. The fad is undeniable 5 
and it admits of no excufe, unlefs we fuppofe 
him fo difgufted with the abfurdities of the 
popular creed, as to avert his eyes from thofe 
convincing arguments which every obje£t 
in creation afforded to the refle&ing heathen 
for the exiftence of a deity, 

DIODORUS SICULUS. 

The few remaining Greek hiftorians are 
not confidered amongft the firft clafs of 
writers ; and in eftimating the merit of their 
works, much allowance has been claimed 
for them on account of the declining ftate 
of the Greek language at the time they 
wrote. 

Whether the efFe&s refulting from this 
caufe be not exaggerated, niay probably be 

difcerned 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 265 

difcerned by a recurrence to their ftyle and 
manner ; and that may enable us to form a 
general judgment on the mbjecl:. 

Diodorus Siculus was a native of Argyra 
in Sicily, and did not precede our Saviour 
quite half a century. Fifteen books are all 
that remain of forty, which contained an 
account of Egypt, Perfia, Syria, Media, 
Greece, Rome, and Carthage. 

This extenfive work defcribes every im- 
portant event from the invafion of Xerxes 
to the year of the world 3650. Whoever 
wifhes fully to enjoy the ancient poets, muft 
firft be mafter of the ancient theology. In 
Diodorus is to be found the fabulous hiftory 
of Greece, the fuppofed creation of the 
world, and the whole fyftem of polytheifiii. 
We muft have recourfe to him for informa- 
tion refpe&ing both Greeks and Barbarians, 
during the period of which he treats ; and 
when his relations fail to obtain the acqui- 
efcence of our minds, we mould remember 
that like Herodotus he does not pledge 
frimfelf for their veracity. 



He 



266 COMMENTARIES ON 

He had induftry, the firft merit of a 
compiler ; and he had judgment in fele&ing 
from books whatever might be ufeful to his 
plan. He has preferved fome important 
parts of works extant in his time, which 
but for him would have been loft to the 
world. 

His language is devoid of elegance, and 
his arrangement has been made with too 
little attention to order or to method. 

It is probably, not owing to his being 
contemporary with Auguftus, that the ftyle 
of his Greek is harfh, but that like the ftyle 
of every compiler, it is reftrained by 
fetters. 

In the parts that are original, he writes 
with much more eafe, and this circumftance 
feems to give a colour to the foregoing 
obfervation. 

Diodorus deferves to be read, but not to 
be imitated. Utility rather than pleafure 
will be derived to the fcholar from the 
perufal of his works; what he finds in 
other authors will be rendered familiar by 

a pre- 



CLASSICAL LEARNING, 267 

a previous acquaintance with him ; as 
the march of an army is facilitated, by 
the rugged but ufeful office of the pio- 
neer, 

DIONTSIUS of HALICARNASSUS. 

"When the polite arts had taken their 
weft ward flight, and the patronage of Augus- 
tus invited every man of talenrs to Rome, 
Dionyiius came thither, a few years after 
the birth of Chrift ; and affords a ftriking 
proof, that genius and application, forming 
themfelves on models of excellence, can 
overcome all the difadvantages arifing to 
an author who writes when a language 
has declined from its priftine purity. 

His di£tion is as varied, as that of the 
different authors whom he imitated. It 
contains the chara&eriftics of diffufion, con- 
cifenefs, and familiarity, — in the refpe&ive 
parts where he wifned to fhew them. 
Xenophon and Herodotus are his favorite 
authors 5 and like the latter, he relieves his 

work 



268 COMMENTARIES ON 

work by lively epifodes and happy digres- 
sions. 

The life he made of fuch illuftrious 
authorities, was to form a ftyle correct, 
expreffive, and elegant; and genius model- 
ing imitation, rendered it completely his 
own. 

The fubje&s he treats are the antiquities 
of Rome, for the period of three hundred 
and twelve years ; of which only the eleven 
firft books out of twenty are now in exift- 
ence. They were the refult of twenty-four 
years of ufeful labour ; and difplay the cor- 
rect chronologer, the judicious critic, and 
the faithful hiftorian. Abandoning all fable, 
difdaining every thing of the marvellous 
and miraculous, he delineates the constitu- 
tion and government of a country to which 
he w r as a foreigner, with far more accuracy 
than any of the writers who were Romans. 

Native authors fometimes carelefsly re- 
port tranfa&ions to which they are. familiar, 
prefuming upon a fimilar acquaintance with 
themfelves on the part of their readers ; 

and 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 269 

and ftrangers are more careful and more 
minute in their inveftigations, and lefs 
tinctured with national pride and par- 
tiality. 

Like them however when he traces the 
Romans to their origin and would give 
us an account of the inhabitants who pre- 
ceded them in Italy, it is not to be won- 
dered at that he lofes himfelf in the ob- 
fcurity of fuch diftant ages ; but that credu- 
lity is furely cenfurable which induced him 
to believe that he faw his way through the 
impenetrable made. 

Dionyfius participated every advantage 
which the moft polifhed period of Rome 
could afford him. He obtained a know- 
ledge of men and manners , by an acquaint- 
ance with all the witty and the learned who 
floriihed in the court of Auguftus. Con- 
verfation, a powerful teft of genius and 
information, acquainted him with every 
•thing refpe&ing the empire of the world 
which he could not learn from books. His 
talents were furniflied with materials from 

every 



270 COMMENTARIES ON 

every fource which could diifiagr them; 
and in the perufal of his works, we fhall not 
be difappointed in our fearch both for 
profit and for pleafure. 

APPIAN. 

At a late period, more than a hundred 
and forty years after the birth of Chrift, 
flourifhed Appian, a native of Alexandria, 

He wrote an account in twenty-four 
books of all the countries which had been 
fubdued by the Romans j but time has much 
mutiliated his work : ftill, fome of the raoft 
important events in the Roman hiftory 
may be found in this author. 

The Syrian, Parthian, Punic, and civil 
wars from the time of the Gracchi, are ably 
written by him ; and in many inftances the 
fiory is comprefled into a fmall compafs. 
He has been accufed of general plagiarifm* 
and of adopting the ftyle of every author 
from whom he pillaged in fuch a manner as 
to have none of his own. 

if 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 271 

If he cannot be defended from this charge, 
it muft however be allowed by his ac- 
cufers that he is a pilferer of judgment; 
fince he not only has copied much im- 
portant matter, but has omitted everything 
fabulous and abfurd. If the incidents be 
old, the manner of relating them gives them 
an appearance of novelty, and produces 
a confiderable degree of intereft in the 
reader. The actions are not blended as in 
mod other hiftories, but the order of time 
in which they happened in each particular 
country is obferved. There feems feme- 
thing to recommend this plan; for it affords 
a conne&ed hiftory of places and of people, 
not deranged by the deviations of a general 
or an army. He is fo minute in his rela- 
tions, that we may perceive he means to 
deliver only what is true; but his extreme 
partiality to the Romans leaves him without 
a poffible vindication. That he ihould be 
well inclined to the people with whom he 
found a welcome reception and by whofe 
government he was advanced to offices 

2 of 



272 COMMENTARIES ON 

of ftate, is the natural impulfe of a grateful 
mind; but praife and blame are a facred 
charge repofed in the hiftorian, and never to 
be attributed but by the laws of juftice and 
of truth. 

Arrian lived about one hundred and 
thirty-fix years after Chrift, and was born 
at Nicomedia the capital of Bithynia, once 
a very powerful country of Afia Minor. 
He was no lefs celebrated as a philofopher, 
than as a foldier, the favourite fcholar of 
the ftoic Epi&etus, the faithful hiftorian of 
Alexander's expedition, and the Periplus of 
the iEgean fea. The emperor Antoninus had 
fufficient wifdom to difcern, and liberality 
to reward his merit : he made him conful, 
and gave him the government of Cappadocia, 

When the Greek language was in its 
higheft purity, no writer ever furpafled 
Arrian in that beft attribute of ftyle. Form- 
ing himfelf on the example of Xenophon* 
he participated the fweetnefs of his model* 
The foftnefs of his language has not ex- 
cluded ftrength and vigour, nor do his 
*5 flowing 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 273 

flowing periods convey a meaning that is 
vague or unimpreffive. His fpeeches are 
peculiarly his own, and combine a power- 
ful addrefs to the paflions with arguments 
that are folid and convincing. On thefe 
occafions his figures are happily fele£tedj 
and well illuftrate the points which he 
woulji enforce. His epithets are neither 
exuberant nor are his metaphors jumbled 5 
and if his matter be not comprefled into the 
fmalleft compafs, it is at leaft not loofely 
extraneous. His ftory is told with a plain, 
and pleafing familiarity: whenever he 
quits the main fubjecT:, it is evidently his 
intention to relieve the reader from the 
fatigue of a long and uninterrupted narra- 
tion 5 and though he avoids fcepticifm, 
which has been called " one of the nerves 
of the mind," he is no credulous reporter 
of legendary tales, but an hiftorian of un- 
doubted integrity and truth* 

The defcription he gives us of Alexan- 
der's conquefts affects us with a mixture 
of pleafure and concern ; we perufe his ac- 
count of them with fuch a degree of fatif- 
T fadion, 



274 COMMENTARIES ON 

faction, as makes us regret that we have 
no knowledge of the fucceeding periods 
but what the imperfedl remains of Photius 
have conveyed to us. 

He who forms his ftyle on that of ano- 
ther, is as likely to copy the defe&s as the 
merits of his original ; and if a languor 
and a tamenefs fometimes appear in parts 
which a livelier fpirit would have impro- 
ved, he might plead the example of Xeno- 
phon as his authority, though not his vin- 
dication, 

DION CASSIVS. 

. In a general reference to claffic writers » 
it may be proper to glance at thofe of infe- 
rior reputation* although their memorials 
be fcanty, and not replete with entertain- 
ment to the reader. 

Nicsea in Bithynia was the birthplace of 
this writer, who was about two hundred 
and thirty years pofterior to our Saviour, 

It is grateful to have recourfe to times 
when the labours of the ibholar were hold^ 

4 en 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 2J$ 

en in repute by minifters and princes ; 
fince the fame talents which have raifed 
men to an eminence in learning, might 
frequently be a valuable aequifition to the 
fervice of the ftate. Dion Caffius was cal<- 
led to adorn the higheft ministerial offices 
in the Roman empire, by Pertinax and 
his three immediate fucceffbrs; and the 
fame induitry which he difplayed in fpecu- 
lative, accomplifhed him for the purpofes 
of adtive life. In an unwearied application 
often years to the fubjeQ:, he compofed a 
hiftory of which only very imperfect frag- 
ments are in exiftence. 

He is a clofe and not unfuccefsful imi- 
tator of Thucidydes, and, like all imitators* 
exhibits his faults as well as his beauties : 
for, if like him he fometimes be a fublime 
writer, like him he introduces the fame 
bold figures and the fame irrelevant matter. 
His words are judicioufly chofen and pro- 
perly arranged ; nor is he deftitute of the 
beauties of variety and the harmony of pe- 
riods. Could we ever be reconciled to long 
fentences and parenthefes, this writer 
T 2 would 



1j6 COMMENTARIES Cftf 

would mediate their excufe : but that whicfs 
has disfigured the hiftory of Clarendon, 13 
too often repeated to be pardoned in Dion 
Caffius. Had Thucidydes never written* 
his renown would have been more emi- 
nent. His veracity as an hiftorian yield3 
to his partiality to Caefar ; nor is it any 
proof either of the independence of his 
mind or the foundnefs of his judgment, 
that fueeefs appears in his view to be the 
certain criterion of merit, and that his fuf- 
frage is always in favour of the fortunate > 
at the expence of the unhappy. 

Dion believed that a familiar fpirit con* 
ftantly attended him as the monitor of his 
conduct, and the advifer and prompter of 
his literary compositions. Such fuperfti- 
tian may ferve occafionally to embolden 
and reprefs the ardour of the foldier in the 
day of battle, and may by turns be ufeful 
and difadvantageous to the mariner. The 
poet who thinks he feels the influence of 
his infpiring god, may reach to fubliinity 
by the aid of his enthufiafm : but when 
once the 'hiftorian difobeyfr the dictates of 

fober 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 277 

fober reafon, his veracity is as much to be 
doubted, as the religion of the credulous 
devotee, who believes or pretends to be- 
lieve in a partial illumination from heaven. 

Herodi an was born at Alexandria about 
two hundred and fifty years after the 
Chriftian aera ; but he removed at an early 
period of his life to Rome, where he was 
employed in many civil offices, and wrote 
a hiftory of the times, in eight books, from 
the death of Marcus Aurelius to Maximi- 
nus, comprizing nearly feventy years* 

The imitation of his ftyle is more defi- 
nable than difficult. It porTerTes eafe with- 
out negligence, and delicacy without affec- 
tation. 

Herodian is 2, methodical and an accurate 
writer ; his digreffions are natural and his 
precepts are worthy to be engraven on the 
memory. It is no obje&ion to his work 
that the fubjecl: is fo limited, for he was 
thence enabled to relate circumftances of 
which he had been an eye-witnefs ; while 
his official fituation opened to him all the 
T 3 hidden 



2J$ COMMENTARIES ON 

hidden motives of a&ion, all thofe feeret 
fprings which regulate political manoeuvres* 

T6 knowledge fo unclouded, he added 
a correct judgment and a perfect integrity; 
and few of his predeceffbrs could boaft 
fnore of the qualities which conftitute a 
good hiftorian. 

The curiofity of the learned reader will 
be highly gratified by the defcription 
which he has given of the Roman <rere-* 
monies, and of the adulation of a corrupt 
and declining people in the apotheofia of 
their emperors. 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 279 



SECTION IX. 



PLUTARCH. 



"lutarch was born at Chseronea a cele- 
brated city of Bceotia, foraewhat lefs than 
a century after Chrift, of a family refpect- 
able in ftation and eminent in talents. 

His education was acquired at Delphi, 
a place which the temple of Apollo has 
confecrated to perpetual remembrance. 
While the Pythian prieftefs labored with 
the oracles of the god, Ammonius difpen- 
fed to his youthful difciples the more intel- 
ligible precepts of natural and moral philo- 
fophy. 

Plutarch improved the difcipline of a 
fchoolmafter by the- advantages of foreign 
travel. His country employed him early 
in life on an important embaffy to Rome, 
where he himfelf became a teacher of 
T 4 youth, 



280 COMMENTARIES ON 

youth, after having explored the literary 
treafures of Egypt and of Greece. 

The capital of the world was at that 
time the principal feat of erudition ; and 
learned men could not then complain of 
that coldnefs and neglecT: which they 
have frequently experienced from perfons 
in power. 

It would have been an honorable infcrip- 
tion on the column of Trajan, that he was 
the friend of Plutarch, and that he called 
him from a humble and laborious employ-* 
ment, to be the conful of Rome and the 
governor of Illyricum, 

When death had clofed the eyes of his 
munificent patron, the love of his native 
foil induced him to revifit Chaeronea, where 
he lived to a very advanced age, during 
which his exulting countrymen heaped 
upon him all the honors they had to be- 
llow. 

Here he projected, and here he com. 

pleted, his Jives of illuftrious men, a work; 

which has been honored with unbounded 

3 praife, 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 28l 

praife, and yet perhaps never praifed be- 
yond its defert. 

This remark however muft be accompa- 
nied with an exception ; for, when fome 
of his panegyrifts declare that if it were in 
their option to fave only one work of the 
ancients from deftruction, it mould be the 
lives of Plutarch, the encomium is extra- 
vagant and unjuft. 

Biography is no where more agreeable, 
and hiftory no where fo effentially moral, 
as in this writer. It is the man who occu- 
pies him more than the event, and in deli- 
neating individuals he does not accumulate 
particulars, but contents himfelf with giving 
felecT: traits of character. His parallels are 
perfect compofitions both in ftyle and 
manner. In his admiration of mining qua* 
lities, he does not forget properly to efti- 
mate thofe which are ufeful and folid : he 
carefully examines and duly appreciates 
every thing ; confronts the hero with him- 
felf, the a&ions with the motives, the ftic- 
cefs with the means, the faults with the 
excufes, Juftice, virtue, and 4 love of 

truth 



S&2 COMMENTARIES ON 

truth are the fole objects of his efteem ; and 
his judgment is formed with as much re- 
ferve as gravity. His reflections are a trea- 
fure of wifdom and found policy, and 
ought to be engraven on the hearts of all 
thofe who are emulous to direct their pub-, 
lie and private life by the unerring rules of 
integrity. 

When he quits his moral walk, we ftill 
perceive him to be a laborious inquirer 
jnto phyfical and metaphyfical fqbje&s. 
Concurring with Ariftotle and Plato, he 
imbibed with avidity their doctrines of 
truth and error, and zealoufly refuted the 
paradoxes of the Stoics. The form of the 
Socratic dialogue he adopted in order to 
enforce his arguments, which are not al- 
ways fraught with inftru&ion or convic- 
tion. The banquet of the feven fagea, and 
the queftions of the table, have been quo- 
ted as inftances where the matter is futile 
however the entertainment may be plea- 
fing ; but the latter, like the converfation of 
polifhed focieties, has a mixture of debate 
without afperity, gaiety without buffoon. 

ery, 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 283 

ery, Tallies of wit, aphorifms and anec- 
dotes, which attract and never weary the 
attention. 

His religious fentiments are thofe of 
Plato, and a chriftian may applaud his ex- 
hortations to men to abftain from judging 
of the defigns of Providence, and to relign 
to its difpenfations the management of the 
world. He cites with approbation a paf- 
fage of Pindar, which fhews that great 
poets reafoned on this fubje£t like great 
philofophers. " God, the author and the 
mafter of every thing, is alfo the author 
and the mafter of juftice. To him alone 
it appertains to determine when, how, and 
till what time, each ought to be punifhed 
for the evil which he has done." 

On thefe ferlous and important points, 
however, his comparifons are not always 
juft : as, when he refembles a generous and 
delicate friend, who obliges without wifh- 
ing to be known, to the deity who loves 
to benefit mankind without their percei- 
ving it, becaufe he is beneficent in his na- 
ture. 

The 



284 COMMENTARIES ON 

The bleffings we receive from God 
however thrown away upon the carelefs 
mind, are intended to imprefs us with a 
due fenfe of his mercy and his goodnefs ; 
nor is gratitude lefs a duty than veneration 
and fear. Such gratitude meliorates the 
heart which it inhabits : Plutarch was not 
entirely ignorant of this truth, for he cites 
with praife this maxim of Pythagoras, 
** When we approaeh God by prayer, we 
become better.'* 

It has been objected to Plutarch, that 
his narration is not always fo methodical as 
it might be ; ,but it fhould be remembered, 
that he always prefumes on a previous 
knowledge of general hiftory in his rea- 
ders. 

He has alfo been accufed by a French 
critic, M. Dacier, of being deftitute of all 
the graces of language, harmony, arid ar- 
rangement. Neither the time in which he 
wrote, nor the country in which he was 
born, were likely to render him faultlefs in 
his ftyle. Many centuries had elapfed 
between the days of Pericles and of Adrian . 

and 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 20$ 

and the bogs of Bceotia were never fufcep- 
tible of Attic purity. Still he is not defi- 
cient in clearnefs, in dignity, and in force. 
He is fometimes too figurative for the lan- 
guage of hiftory, fometimes too abftract 
and philofophical for the fimple tone of 
biography : but genius will have its ex- 
curlions, and a fuperior underftanding will 
indulge itfelf in its aptitude for deep reflec- 
tion. 

The fpeeches he introduces are in perfect 
unifon with characters and with times, and 
fo great is his general merit, that every 
reader will excufe a few partial defects. 

If his language be fometimes inharmo- 
nious, the fentiment is correct and true. 
While we admire the fplendour of the dia- 
mond, we difregard the coarfenefs of the 
fetting. 

It has been faid, that he is more accu- 
rate in his detail of facts in his lives of 
Greeks than of Romans. Perhaps his 
knowledge of the Latin language and of 
Roman characters was imperfect, and this 
circumftance will furnifh a better apology 

than 



236 COMMENTARIES ON 

than arifes from the partiality to his court* 
trymen, which has been attributed to him 
with as little relu&ance as authority. 

He is reported to have been a % favourite 
author with a celebrated perfon, now no 
more, who long prefided over the higheft 
court of Britifh jurifprudence. 

If the petty tranfadions of this fubliinary 
world be worthy of his regard, it will be a 
fubje£t of regret to that great man, to 
perceive that the incidents of his own life, 
worthy doubtlefs of a more durable record, 
ihould fo long be obfcured by the im- 
penetrable dullnefs of a technical biogra- 
pher. 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 287 



SECTION X. 
Grecian Satire. 

LUC IAN. 

XlAD the birth of Quintilian been a little 
later, he would not have been authorifed 
in faying that fatire exclufively belongs to 
the Romans. " Satira quidem tota nojlra ejl." 
The teftimony of ancient writers rather 
than the remains of their writings, may 
ferve to convince us that Archilochus and 
Hipponax might have challenged every fab- 
fequent fatirift in the afperity of their 
ridicule. 

So bitter was the gall in which they dip- 
ped their pens, that the perfons whom they 
attacked could find no refuge from the 
poignancy of their feelings but in the laft 
act of human weakness ; and it is no where 
recorded that the poets exhibited any fort of 
contrition for having been the caufe of 

fuicide. 



%88 COMMENTARIES ON 

filicide. Satire is indeed to be found in all 
nations. It feems the dictate of nature to 
refen.t injuries and to ridicule abfurdity. 

Lucian was born at Samofata in Syria, 
fomewhat lefs than a hundred years after 
the chriftian aera. The poverty of his 
father prevented him from obtaining the 
advantage of an early education: having 
firft been difgufted with the mechanical 
labour of a fculptor, for which he was ap* 
prenticed to an unqle ; and afterwards with 
the artifices then confpicuous in the life of 
a lawyer, the fecond object of his attention ; 
he refolved to purfue no trade or profeflion, 
but to devote himfelf entirely to ftudious 
occupations. 

His talents foon rendered him eminent in 
philofophy and eloquence; thefe he im- 
proved and difplayed in all the poliflied 
countries of Europe and Afia \ and the 
Emperor Aurelius did homage to his own 
difcernment of them when he appointed 
him to a civil office under the Roman 
governor of Egypt, 

Many 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 289 

Many of the learned men of thofe times 
are faid to have furvived to an extraordinary 
age ; and the long period of ninety years 
enabled Lucian to mark the follies and ap- 
preciate the merit of mankind by the teft 
of perfonal experience. 

His dialogues, written in the Attic ftyle, 
and with truly Attic wit, entitle him to be 
confidered as the mod entertaining of all 
the Greek profe writers. • They contain iu 
felecT: portions the whole of the ancient 
mythology. The gods and their votaries 
are the conftant fubjecl: of his ridicule; and 
indeed while we deplore his atheifm, it muft 
be confeffed, that the popular fyftem. of the 
heathens was too abfurd for reverence. But 
if his fatire was directed againft a falfe 
religion, he no where exhibits a veneration 
for that which was founded on the balls gf 
truth : but it is afferted by forne writers that 
he was deftroyed by dogs for his impious 
profanation of chriftiamty. 

His dialogues are portions of the drama, 
in which his characters are admirably fuf- 
tained throughout His wit is fubtle, and 

u the 



2gO COMMENTARIES ON 

the effect he would produce irrefiftible. 
His language has every merit which fuch 
compofitions can contain. It is not lefs 
elegant than limple ; not lefs animated than 
correct. When he delineates the prevailing 
vices of the times in which parafites and 
fortune-hunters abounded, he is fo happy 
in his portraits of meannefs and of avarice, 
that the difguft which he excites always 
terminates in Satisfaction at the puniihment 
he infli&s upon them. Here his morality 
has a fterling value, fince it is pointed to 
the inftru&ion of every age. 

If ridicule be not the teft of truth, it is at 
leaft the formidable foe of error, and ftern 
avenger of vice ; and in this view the dia- 
logues of Lucian may tend to improve the 
youthful mind, which they will not fail to 
delight. He however who is pofTefled of 
the fhining but dangerous quality of wit, 
is too apt to be deftitute of prudence or dis- 
crimination. He flays indifcriminately both 
friend and foe. The fatirift who fo well 
burlefqued the morofe and unfocial difpo- 
fition of the cynics, has nothing to urge in 

his 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 2<}I 

his juftification, when, without any dis- 
tinction, he affumes the fame weapons to 
attack the almoft fuperhuman virtues of 
Socrates and the almoft divine doctrines of 
Plato. 

It appears wonderful to reflect that Lu- 
cian, born in Syria, and in the time of the 
Antonines when Greek and Roman letters 
were equally decayed, fhould be worthy 
to be confidered as a claffic writer, both in 
the purity and elegance of his di&ion. 
Other inftances have however been men- 
tioned, and he may be added to the num- 
ber, to prove, that genius difdains all the 
fetters of time and place, and often throws a 
vivid though a tranfient light on ages of 
obfeurity. 

Thefe {ketches of the lives and writings 
of the principal poets, orators, and hifto- 
rians of Greece, may ferve to evince the 
efficacy of education in that country. It 
was this which gave fuch fuperiority to 
Athens, and fuch celebrity to its citizens ; 
and the object of the prefent writer will be 
U 2 anfwered 



2()2 COMMENTARIES ON 

anfwered, if the flight reference he has made 
to the works of the ancients (hall induce his 
readers to examine the fubject more accu- 
rately and deeply, fince the refult muft be 
a thorough conviction of the value of 
Claflical Learning. 

If it be afked why the earlier! authors of 
the three departments of the belles lettres 
ftill remain in pofleffion of the vantage 
ground of excellence and fame ; it is not 
enough to fay that nature firft prefented 
her various objects to their view, which 
rendered their reprefentations as original as 
their genius : fince the mod fuperficial 
examiner will find that true pre-eminence 
was acquired by a degree of perfonal indus- 
try that has in no age or nation been ex- 
celled. " If ever the human intellect: was 
cultivated to the extent of its powers; if 
ever the arts were carried to the fummit of 
perfection; if ever generous competition 
effected more than the love of gain; it was 
unqueftionably in Greece." 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 293 



SECTION XI. 

On Roman Literature. — The Drama. — Comedy.— Livl us 
Andronicus. — Ennius. — Plautus, — Cacilius. —Terence. 
•—PantGmime. 

V v hoever contemplates the rife and pro- 
grefs of the Roman empire, will eafily ac- 
count for the late appearance of learning 
amidft that celebrated people. 

Being defcended from fhepherds, and 
deriving much of their population from the 
refufe of neighbouring nations, their high- 
eft art was agriculture, and their favourite 
employment was wan Their manners, of 
courfe, were affimilated to their occupa- 
tions, and thofe were far remote from foft- 
nefs and from elegance. 

If other teftimonies to evince this affer- 
tion were required, we have one of un- 
doubted authority in the declarations of a 
bard, who was enlightened by all the learn- 

u 3 ing 



2p4 COMMENTARIES ON 

ing of an accomplifhed age, and polifhed 
by all the refinements of a court, 

" More fldlled fhall others mould the brazen form, 
Or bid the marble glow like nature warm ; 
Excel in legal eloquence fevere, 
Or trace with brighter ken the ftarry fphere : 
Roman, thy fterner character fuftain, 
And bind round fubjugated realms the chain ; 
Be thefe thy arts ! the laws of peace to impofe, 
And fparing proflrate, crufh refilling foes/*" 

In all unpolifhed nations the germs of 
poetry are found ; for they are the native 
produ&s of the intellectual wafte, and the 
firft obje&s of human cultivation. So 
early as the time of Romulus, fongs of 
triumph were in ufe ; and gratitude to their 
tutelary gods di&ated the firft metrical 
compofitions of the Romans. Their whole 
liturgy indeed was poetical ; to thefe fuc-* 
ceeded their Fefcennine verfes, fung at their 
feafts, after the vintage or harveft, con- 
taining praifes of the ruftic divinities, and 
the extemporaneous jefts and farcafms of 
clowns. 

Advancing like all human things by 
flow gradations,- theft farcafms of indivi- 
duals 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 295 

duals aflumed the form of dialogue, the 
licentioufnefs of which it was found necef- 
fary to reftrain by law, after they had for 
three centuries been the delight of the peo- 
ple. We are authorifed by the opinions of 
Horace and of Livy, not to lament the lofs 
of produ&ions which the tafte of Auguftus 
condemned to conflagration. 

Chance however contributed to the me- 
lioration of Roman poetry. The dejection 
confequent upon a peftilence at Rome, 
nearly four hundred years before Chrift, 
induced the people to invite a troop of 
players from Tufcany, to amufe them at 
their public feftivals. Ignorant of the lan- 
guage fpoken by thefe players, they were 
contented that the reprefentation fhould be 
merely gefture, affifted by the delightful 
accompaniment of the flute, and this was 
at leaft a cure for melancholy, if not an an- 
tidote againft the plague. 

We may properly refer the origin of the 
Roman drama to Livius Andronicus, a 
freedman of Salinator, and the preceptor 
of his foils, who lived about two hundred 

u 4 and 



296 COMMENTARIES ON 

and forty years before Chrift, and who 
was for a confiderable time the fole writer 
for the ftage. He is faid to have been lefs 
polifhed even than thofe to whom he ex- 
hibited his works; and Cicero condemns 
him as not worthy of a fecond perufal. 
He probably formed himfelf on the model 
of the old Grecian comedy, and was replete 
with perfonal allufions, which were lefs 
congenial to the difpofition of the Romans, 
than of the Greeks. 

The writers who were coeval with An- 
dronicus or his immediate fucceffors, ap- 
pear to have been only fervile imitators of 
the Greeks ; and if very little remains of 
their writings, it feems to be becaufe very 
little was worthy to be preferved. The 
names of Nsevius, Aquilius, and many 
others are fcarcely remembered ; fragments 
of them remain, and the fcantinefs of the 
gleanings will not allow us to believe that 
the harveft was abundant. 

Ennius enjoyed a higher reputation ; for 
Lucretius fays of him, that he was the 
firft of the Roman poets who deferved a 

lafting 






CLASSICAL LEARNING. 297 

lafting crown from the mufes. The infe- 
rior Roman dramatifts were actors as well 
as poets, and wrote both tragedies and co- 
medies ; but that was never attempted by 
writers of more eftablifhed reputation : 
there is no tragedy of Menander or Terence, 
no comedy of Euripides or Accius. The 
quiet which fucceeded the fecond Punic 
war, afforded them leifure to improve their 
poetry. They bad the benefit of the beft 
models before them, and, when this ch> 
cumftance is confidered, we lliall probably 
be more furprifed at their defects than at 
their merits. 

There is one radical error in the Roman 
comedy ; the language only is Latin, the 
perfonages and fcenes entirely Grecian. It 
feems. as incongruous to defcribe common 
life in a foreign country, as to clothe an 
ancient fratue in modern drapery. 

The firft age of Roman poetry was more 
remarkable for ftrength than for refine- 
ment ; but it is curious to obferve, and 
impoflible to reconcile, the different fenti- 
ments of the three great Roman critics on 

the 



2g8 COMMENTARIES ON 

the fame fubjed : Cicero paffes a high 
eulogium on the old dramatic writers, 
Horace is as unbounded in his cenfure of 
them, and Quintilian is the moderator be- 
tween both. 

The beauty of the Attic dialed probably 
rendered the Grecian dramatifts fuperior to 
rivalry ; befides which, it fhould be re- 
membered that the imitator rarely ap- 
proaches the merit of his original. It has 
been thought that our anceftors who raifed 
that Palladium of Englifh liberty, the trial 
by jury, were guilty of an error when they 
prefcribed the jurors to come from the 
vicinage, in order that they might correct 
the falfities of evidence by their private 
knowledge of the fads. In criticifm the 
paffions and prejudices of the writer mingle, 
often imperceptibly to himfelf, in his deli- 
neation of the works of others. Cicero 
was perhaps milled by his proximity to the 
times of which he wrote, and Horace in 
fome degree warped from his wonted can- 
dour by the nature of his fubjed:. The 
moderation of Quintilian feems to eftablifh 

a pre~ 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 299 

a preference in favour of his judgment. 
He compares Ennius to a facred grove, in 
which the old oaks appear rather venerable 
than pleafing ; and by this figure we may 
fairly appreciate the merit of all the earlier 
comic poets of Rome. 

About two hundred and twenty years 
before the Chriftian sera, Plautus was born 
at Sarfina in Umbria. No certain tradition 
of his family has reached us ; but vague 
accounts of his failure in trade, and a con* 
fequent application to the moft fervile 
offices, have been attefted and contradicted 
by different authors. 

That he was poor, from whatever caufe, 
there feems to be no doubt; but his pover- 
ty was probably a ftimulant to his genius, 
though it might be an enemy to the cor- 
reclnefs of his writings. 

He wrote twenty-five comedies, of 
which we are in poffeffion of nineteen. 
His death happened about one hundred 
and eighty years before Chrift, on which 
occafion his countryman Varro infcribed 
an epitaph on his tomb, of which the 
4 following 



300 COMMENTARIES ON 

following tranflation may convey an imper- 
fect idea : 

""•^The comic mufe laments her Plautus dead ; 
Deferted theatres (how genius fled ; 
Mirth, fport, and joke, and poetry bemoan, 
And echoing myriads join their plaintive tone.** " 

He who is unwilling to decide for him- 
felf on the merits of Plautus, will probably 
be perplexed by the varying fentiments of 
critics. He will be told by fome that his 
uniformity is fuch as always to have the 
fame perfonages in the drama. There is 
always a young courtezan, an old perfoa 
who fells her, a young man who buys her, 
and who makes ufe of a knavifh valet to 
extort money from his father ; a parafite 
of the vileft kind, ready to do any thing for 
his patron who feeds him; a braggadocio 
foldier, whofe extravagant boafting and 
ribaldry have ferved as a model for the 
Copper Captains of our old comedy. To 
thefe cenfures he will find it added, that 
the fty'le and dialogues are taftelefs ; that 
the wit is buffoonery of the lowef! fort; 

I . that 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 30I 

that he was ignorant of that fpecies of gaiety 
which ought to reign in comedy, and of 
the pleafantry properly belonging to the 
theatre; that thefe fhould arife naturally 
from the character and fituation of the 
actor, and be conformed to them exadly ; 
that his dialogues are long narrations, in- 
terfperfed with tedious foliloquies; that his 
actors come in and go out without a reafon ; 
that perfons who are in a great hurry con- 
tinue upon the ftage a full quarter of an 
hour ; and that he introduces the loweft 
proftitutes with the moll vulgar and inde- 
cent language and manners. 

The admirers of Plautus declare him to 
have a fertility of invention never equalled 
by any writer before or fince his timet 
together with an unrivalled judgment in the 
choice and conduct of his fable ; that his 
characters are drawn from nature ; and that 
the richeft vein of eafe runs through all his 
works ; the perufal of which is accompanied 
not with calm fatisfadion but with infinite 
delight. 

When 



302 COMMENTARIES ON 

When we are confidering thefe oppofite 
opinions, we ought to recoiled that Plautus 
had not only a great reputation in his own 
time, but preferved it beyond the Auguftan 
age. Varro fays, if the mufes had fpoken 
Latin, it would have been in the language of 
Plautus. Cicero and Quintilian each afford 
him a high encomium, notwithftanding 
Terence had already written. They par- 
ticularly commend his knowledge of the 
Latin tongue, although he wrote before the 
language had arrived at perfection; and the 
former fays, that his wit is elegant, urbane, 
ingenious, and facetious. Horace, indeed, 
fays, " We have admired the verfes and the 
jefts of Plautus with a complaifance which 
may be denominated folly." But for five 
hundred years Plautus was a favorite at 
Rome, although the language had become 
more polifhed and correft, and criticifm 
and polite literature had made rapid fcrides. 
He muft be confeffed to have a fund of 
comic humour and gaiety ; and tkafe his 
imitator, Moliere, owes much of the appro- 
bation he has received to the original from 

which 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 303 

which he drew his characters. la ancient 
comedy where fhall we find more enter- 
tainment than in the Amphitrion and 
the Mensechmi? 

Some apology may be made for the 
defects of Plautus, arifing from the tafte of 
the times in which he wrote. If his wit 
be often falfe, it was relifhed becaufe it was 
the fafhion of his day. A better tafte in 
the public would have produced an exube- 
rance of finer wit in him. 

It was not allowed to comic writers to 
reprefe on the ftage any miftrefles but 
courtezans : the delicacy of true love there- 
fore could not be exhibited by the writers 
of the drama. If Plautus was carelefs, and 
poor and mercenary, the vivacity of his 
genius counterbalances thefe defects. All 
the bufmefs and buftle of comedy are to be 
found in his fcenes. Variety too belongs to 
him, for the incidents are equally numerous 
and pleafant. 

He has alfo adapted his plays to theatri- 
cal reprefentation ; and in that refpecl: he 

carries 



304 COMMEI^TARIES Otf 

carries away the prize from the elegant 
friend of Scipio. 

Such is the language of thofe who are 
admirers of Plautus ; and if on a perufal of 
this author we are induced to think that it 
is the language rather of panegyric than of 
truth, let us not forget the thunder of ap- 
plauding theatres which always attended 
the reprefentation of his plays. 

The general praife of his contemporaries, 
feconded by that of feveral fueceeding ages 
of learning and of tafte, is furely fufficient 
to difparage all the ftriclures of modern 
critic ifm. 

If it be true that his jefts are rough, and 
that his wit in general is coarfe, bearing a 
fimilitude to the old comedy at Athens, it 
muft be confefled that, more than any other 
comic writer, he has confulted his own 
genius ; and that his ftrength and fpirit are 
fuch as to attract and gratify the attention 
of every reader who is not of a difpofition 
more than commonly faftidious. 

Csecilius,flourifhed about a century and 
a half before Ghrift, and was the author of 

thirty 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 305 

thirty comedies, of which the high and 
general eulogium of antiquity has induced 
the literary world to lament the lofs. 
Horace acknowledges the energy of his 
mufe; and Cicero, while he defcribes his 
language as incorred, declares him to be 
the bed comic writer which his country 
had ever produced, both with refpe£t to the 
dignity of his chara&ers and the vigour of 
his fentiments. 

TERENCE. 

That a native of Africa, the purchafed 
flave of a Roman fenator, whofe name he 
afterwards bore, (hould acquire the higheft 
reputation as a comic writer, is fo Angular a 
fa£t in literary hiftory, as would at firft view 
induce us to withhold our affent from it. 

But when we confider that his generous 
matter not only conferred upon him his 
freedom, but furnifhed him with the means 
of acquiring all the accomplishments of a 
fcholar, and introduced him to the acquaint- 
ance of the moft learned men in Rome, our 
doubts will vanijQh, and our admiration will 
decreafe* 

x The 



306 COMMENTARIES ON 

The friend of Scipio and Laslius, the 
aflbciate of Lucretius and Polybius, muft 
have had thebeft opportunity of improving 
his natural talents by every thing which po- 
lifhes the manners and improves the mind. 

The difadvantage of humble birth was 
thus happily removed by fuch an intro- 
duction into fociety, and fuch a patronage 
as genius can rarely boaft. The gem 
was refcued from the dark caves of ocean, 
and its pure brightnefs ftill irradiates the 
world. 

Terence was born about a hundred and 
ninety-four years before Chrift ; and upon a 
careful review of the models of the Greeks, 
willingly furrendered the palm of origin- 
ality to be the imitator or tranflator of the 
elegant Menander. 

He began to write at twenty-five years of 
age ; and his dramatic labours were proba- 
bly confined to the fhort period of ten 
years. 

But it was a period of bodily health and 
mental vigour ; for its fruits were not only 
rich but abundantly copious; fince wc have 
to lament that only fix of his plays have 

reached 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 307 

reached us, out of more than a hundred 
which he produced. 

1 The fine moral or rather truly chriftian 
fentiment exhibited in the Andrian, his firft 
play, where it is faid, that man is interefted 
in all the concerns of his fellow beings, 
might well be received with that thunder of 
applaufe, which fucceeding ages have not 
failed to repeat ; it was the harbinger of a 
lafting fame ; and though the fentence be 
perpetually quoted it is never heard without 
approbation. 

In the choice of his fubjefts there is a 
certain dull uniformity, partly arifing from 
the reftrictions placed upon the ancient 
drama. No miflrefs could be reprefented 
on the ftage who was not a courtezan; but 
Terence has endeavoured to attach a con- 
fiderable intereft to the character by repre- 
fenting his females as infants ftolen from 
their parents and fold by fraud or accident. 
He has alfo given them a degree of refpect, 
by exhibiting them as endued with a paffion 
for a fingle object on whom they laviih all 
their tendernefs and conftancy, and for 
whom they confider the world well loft. 

x 2 He 



308 COMMENTARIES OfiT 

He has been faid to have no buffoonery^ 
licentioufnefs, or groffnefs, but to have been 
the only one of the comic writers who has 
brought the language of gentlemen on the 
ftage ; the language of the paffions, the true 
tone of nature. But furely the impudence 
of fervants throughout his plays would in- 
duce the reader to imagine that the licence 
of the Saturnalia had been perennial, and 
furnifhes a contradi&ion to this affertion of 
his panegyrifls. 

If we concur with them in thinking tha£ 
the moral of his drama is found and inftruc- 
tive ; that his pleafantry has good tafte ; that 
his dialogue unites clearnefs, precifion, and 
elegance ; and that he penetrates to the in- 
moft receffes of the heart ; we muft allow 
with the opponents of his fame, that we 
ihould be better gratified by finding more 
force of invention in his plots ; more intereft 
in his fubje&s; more genuine fpirit in his 
chara&ers. Julius Caefar feems to have 
appreciated his merits juftly when he faid : 
" And you, Demi-Menander, are placed near 
our great writers, and you deferve it by the 

purity 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 309 

purityof your ftyle. Could but the beauty 
of your compofition have joined to itfelf 
that comic vein which was poffefled by the 
Greeks ; then would you not have been 
their inferior in the dramatic lift. That is 
what you want, Terence, and what I fo 
much regret." 

Terence began his career with the hap- 
pieft aufpices. When he had compofed his 
Andrian and prefented it to the asdiles, who 
were in the habit of purchafmg dramatic 
works for the gratification of the people at 
the fhows, before they would conclude a 
bargain, they fent it to Csecilius for his 
opinion. 

The old man ordered Terence to read a 
part of it to him as he was lying on his 
couch. Before he had finifhed the firft 
fcene, Qecilius raifed himfelf up with evi^ 
dent marks of furprife and pleafure and in- 
vited him. to fupper. He afterwards heard 
the whole of the piece, and beftowed upon 
him fuch praifes as were equally creditable 
to both the parties. 

x % His 



3IO COMMENTARIES ON 

His Eunuch received more approbation 
than any of his plays. It was a&ed twice 
in one day; and the fum of thirty pounds, 
for which he fold the copy-right, was 
hitherto without precedent in the annals of 
the Roman ftage. 

It is I believe generally confeffed, that 
the ftyie of Terence is the perfection of the 
Latin language. It is equally celebrated for 
accuracy and elegance. No forced antithe- 
fes, no glaring ornaments deform it ; and it 
has flood the teft of the fevereft criticifm in 
the clofet. The poetry of Terence, compared 
to that of the Auguftan age, has been faid 
to be the Ionic order, compared to that of the 
Corinthian ; not fo fplendid or fo rich, but 
equally if not more exact and pleafing. If 
it excel the language of his age, it was the 
language fpoken in the accomplished fami- 
lies of the Laelii and the Scipios ; and per- 
haps we may afcribe to the advantage de- 
rived from their elegant converfation, thofe 
well written dialogues which Cicero and 
Quintilian conceive him unable to havQ 
cpmpofed without their affiftance. 

That 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 3II 

That Terence is a cold and a tame writer 
will not willingly be confefTed by thofe who 
have witneffed the exhibition of his plays at 
one of the firft feminaries of youth in this 
country. Thofe fcenes cannot be wholly de- 
ftitute of fire which difplay fo vivid a portion 
of it on their claffic ftage. An audience of 
fcholars and of critics will perhaps always 
be in doubt, whether a larger portion of the 
pleafure they receive from the reprefentation 
be due to the compofition of the author, or 
to the talents and fpirit of the performers. 

During the firft three ages of Roman 
comedy, the writers were the fervile imita- 
tors of the Greeks. But foon after the time 
when Terence had quitted Rome, Afranius 
and others whofe compofiUons are loft, de-* 
livered the ftage from the tyranny of foreign 
perfonages, and exhibited thofe pieces only 
in which the ftories and the characters were 
Roman, 

Horace applauds the fpirit of thofe who 
ventured upon this innovation: 

st Nee minimum meruere decus veftigia Graeca 
Aufi defcrere, et celebrare domeftica facta." 

£ 4 From 



312 COMMENTARIES ON 

From this period, comedy was divided 
into two fpecies, which took their names 
from the different habits of the two coun- 
tries. The Roman comedy was fubdivided 
into four kinds ; the firft of which, borrow- 
ing its name from the drefs of plain citi- 
zens, was called the togata, and, when per- 
fons of diftindion were introduced, the prse- 
textata. This was of a ferious nature, per- 
haps like the fentimental comedy of modern 
times. 

The fecond was of a comic caft, deriving 
its name Tabernaria from a town or place 
of refidence where the perfons met whofe 
charaders were exhibited. 

The Atellana was the third fpecies, in 
which the adors not fpeaking from written 
dialogues, trufted to the fpontaneous effufions 
of their fancy; and it had this privilege, 
that the fpedators could not oblige them to 
unmafk. Another exclufive advantage alfo 
belonged to the adors in the Atellana; they 
retained the right of freemen and the power 
of enlifting in the army. 

The curious account given by Dr. Hurd 

of the Satyrs, Mimes, and Atellanes, is 

worthy 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 313 

worthy an attentive perufal. He fhews us 
that the latter was an entertainment fo called 
from. Atella, a town of the Ofciin Campania. 
The language and characters were both 
Ofcan, and their provincial dialed was a 
fource of pleafantry at Rome. 

In thefe three fpecies the fock was al- 
ways worn by the performers. 

The fourth fpecies, the Mimus, was a 
fort of farce, in which the aCtors were 
barefoot. 

At the funeral of Vefpafian, we find from 
Suetonius, that his character was reprefented 
in a mimic piece according to the Roman 
cuftom. 

The leading feature of Vefpafian's cha- 
racter was avarice, of which a remarkable 
inftance is recorded. A town in Italy was 
about to ereCt a ftatue to him ; when he 
faid to the deputies, ftretching out his hand, 
" Gentlemen, here is the bafis whereon you 
jnuft ereCt your ftatue." 

In allufion to this circumftance, the 

aCtor Favor Archimimus, who played the 

part of the emperor, having afked the di- 
rectors 



"3*4 COMMENTARIES ON 

re&ors of the ceremony, what would be 
the expence of his interment, and finding 
that it would amount to fome millions of 
crowns, cried out, " Gentlemen, let me 
have a hundred thoufand crowns, and you 
may throw my body into the river." 

The divilion of the declamation between 
two a&ors took place at a very early pe-* 
riod of the Roman drama. The anecdote 
is fomewhat curious. Livius Andronicus, 
about one hundred and twenty years after 
the theatres had been opened^ was accufto- 
med, like the Grecian writers, to appear as 
an a&or on the ftage. The people, ap- 
plauding fome of his fpeeches, cried out 
fc again" fo often, that he became perfectly 
inaudible by hoarfenefs, and was obliged 
to have a flave to recite his verfes, while 
he retained the gefture and the adion. 

It is faid by Macrobius, that Cicero ufed 
to contend with Rofcius, who fhould beft 
deliver the fame fentiment, each making 
ufe of the talent in which he excelled, 
Rofcius exhibited, by a mute a&ion, the 

fenfe 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 315 

fenfe of the phrafe which Cicero compofed 
and recited. Cicero afterwards changed 
the words and turn of the phrafe, without 
enervating the fenfe \ and Rofcius was 
obliged on his part to exprefs the fenfe by 
other geftures, without weakening it by 
action. 

Mafks were introduced into Greece by 
JEfchylus ; Rofcius Gallus was the firft 
actor who wore a mafk at Rome, which he 
did with a view to conceal the defect of 
fquinting. The mafks were thought fo 
effential to the character, that they ufed to 
prefix to their pieces 3 together with the 
dramatis perfonse, the figure of the mafk. 
The intricacy of the Amphytrio and the 
Menaschmi, turning upon the miftake of 
one perfbn for another, is rendered much 
more credible when we confider the gene- 
ral ufe of mafks. It was befides cuftomary 
to make men act female characters, and 
this mode of concealment was therefore 
indi / eulibly neceffary. 

The mafks were alfo requifite to the 
;mmcnfe iize of the uqroofed theatres. 

Within 



Jl6 COMMENTARIES ON 

Within the mouth was an incruftation of 
horn, to increafe the natural found of the 
voice, that it might be heard by the fpeo 
tators, fome of whom were placed twen- 
ty-four yards from the ftage. 

The Roman a&ors had enormous fala- 
ries. Horace mentions a famous prodigal, 
who had gained two hundred and fifty 
thou fan d pounds by his profeffion ; Pliny 
fays that Rofcius received five thoufand 
pounds a year ; and Macrobius fpeaks of 
his having a falary of forty-five pounds a 
day entirely for his own ufe. The greateft 
number of the actors were born flaves, and 
fubjecl: to a very rigorous apprenticefhip. 
The moft eminent of them would never 
fpeak a word in a morning before they had 
methodically unfolded their voice, letting 
h loofe by degrees that they might not 
hurt their organs. JDuring this exercife 
they continued in bed ; after having acted, 
they lay down, and in this pofture as it 
were folded up their voice again, raifing 
it to the higheft tone they had reached in 
their declamation, and depreffing it after- 
wards 



CLASSICAL LEARNING, 317 

wards fucceflively to all the other tones, till 
they funk it to the loweft. 

From the time of Terence, we hear 
little of any comic writers ; and what may 
appear very remarkable is, that in the 
Auguftan age every fpecies of poetry was 
in its greateft excellence except the drama- 
tic, and that its fubftitute the pantomimic 
art fhould not only have had its rife in that 
elegant period, but have become the fa- 
vourite amufement of the emperor and his 
accomplished minifter. 

For above a hundred years the ftage 
could boaft the exclufive poffeffion of the 
Roman poets, and to the degeneracy of the 
fcenic exhibitions Zofimns imputes the 
corrupt manners of the Roman people, and 
the misfortunes of the empire. 

Pylades and Bathyllus were the fir ft who 
acted whole plays without any articulation ; 
the former excelled in tragic, the other in 
comic fubje£ts, 

The impudence of thefe pantomimes 
may be known by the following anecdote. 
The fpe£tators one day complaining tha^ 






318 COMMENTARIES OlST 

the gefticulation of Pylades in the repre* 
fentation of the Hercules Furens was extra- 
vagant, he took off his mafk and cried 
out, " Don't you know, you fools, that I 
am acling a greater fool than yourfelves ?" 

The approbation afforded to thefe m af- 
ters of gefticulation was as general as it was 
extravagant. Caffiodorus calls them men 
whofe eloquent hands had a tongue, as it 
were, on the tip of each finger ; men who 
fpoke while they were filent, and who 
could recite a whole play without opening 
their mouths ; men, in fine, whom Poly- 
hymnia, the mufe prefiding over mufic, had 
created in order to fhew that there is no 
neceffity for articulation to convey our 
thoughts to others. 

Seneca the elder, a man of the graveft 
profeffion, confefles that his tafte for pan- 
tomime was a real and irrefiftible paflion. 
In Italy both ancient and modern, conver- 
fation has always been more a bufmefs of 
gefture than in this country ; and the lan- 
guage of the Grand Signior's mutes, fo 
well underftood by their countrymen, 

would 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 319 

would be unintelligible in the north of Eu- 
rope. 

Lucian, who wrote a century after the 
Chriftian sera, was a zealous partifan of 
thefe dumb comedians. He fays that a 
king whofe dominions bordered on the 
Euxine fea, happening to be at Rome in 
the reign of Nero, begged a pantomime of 
him, to make him his general interpreter in 
all languages. 

In reflecting on this fubjecl:, it is im- 
poffible not to fuppofe that the geftures of 
thefe actors were far more fignificant than 
either our experience or our imagination 
enables us to conceive. The literati of the 
Auguftan age would probably not have 
difputed the pofition of Dr. Hurd, that 
" to touch the heart by an interesting 
ftory is the end of tragedy, to pleafe our 
curiofity and perhaps our malignity by a 
faithful reprefentation of manners is the 
purpofe of comedy, and to excite laughter 
the fole and contemptible aim of farce." 
Of a far fuperior nature mud have been 
that fpecies of entertainment which fub- 

fifted 



320 COMMENTARIES ON 

fifted as long as the empire, for they both 
fell together when Rome was taken and 
plundered by Totila in five hundred and 
forty-fix ; the fatal epoch which marks the 
almoft entire extinction of fcience and of 
art. 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. £21 



SECTION xir. 

-Roman Tragedy. ~>Pacuvius. — Accius.'~Varius,*—'Ovid, 
—Seneca. 

The Romans borrowed their tragedy en- 
tirely from the Greeks. It was firft known 
to them in the time of the fecond Punic 
war, about two hundred and eighteen years 
before our sera. Dionyfius and Hiero had 
in Sicily been diftinguifhed patrons of 
Grecian learning ; and the conqueft of the 
fouthern parts of Italy, and above all of 
Sicily and Syracufe which yielded to the 
Roman arms, had a few years before be- 
gun to familiarife them with the fine arts of 
poetry and eloquence. 

Pacuvius, a native of Brundufium, above 
two hundred and twenty years before 
Chrift, wrote the firft tragedies which the 
iEdiles thought worthy of their patronage. 
Few fragments remain, but they were the 
admiration of his contemporaries and fuc- 
y ceflbrs. 



322 COMMENTARIES ON* 

ceflfors. Cicero, like Virgil, a lover of 
antiquity, highly efteemed him, and fays 
that all his verfes were ornate and well 
written ; and Horace confers upon him the 
palm of learning. He lived to a very ad- 
vanced age ; but it does not appear that he 
ever reprefented Roman characters or fub- 
jedts, but fiich only as had been previoufly 
exhibited on the Athenian ftage. One 
tragedy, however, compofed on the ftory of 
Brutus and Tarquin, is an exception to this 
remark. 

Accius lived about one hundred and 
thirty-nine years before Chrift. His genius 
is faid to have been very great ; and his 
ftyle, although unpolifhed, exceedingly vi- ( 
. gorous and occasionally fublime. He 
borrowed his fubje&s from Sophocles; but, 
as all his productions are loft, we can only 
prefume upon his merits from the cafual and 
brief allufions made to his works by claflic 
authors. 

Varius, the companion of Horace in his 
journey to Brundufium, wrote a play cal- 

6 led 



classical learning; 323 

led the Thyeftes which pofTeffed exquifite 
merit. 

Ovid wrote a Medea, and C^far an 
CEdipus ; Cicero turned into Latin verfe 
many pieces of Euripides and Sophocles, 
of which there are fome fhreds in his 
Works* But the only entire plays which 
have come down are under the name of 
Seneca : their number is ten, all on Greek 
fubjefls except his Octavia. The beft-in- 
formed critics believe that the (Edipus, 
Hippolytus, Medea, and the Trojans are 
the work of Seneca the philofopher ; who 
was born about twelve years after the 
Chriftian asra, whofe works have rendered 
him fo refpe&able, and whofe unhappy 
end has excited, fo much companion. It 
is thought that the other fix plays were 
the productions of different authors who 
aflumed his name to obtain for them a cele- 
brity which their own would not have 
conferred, as many comic authors published 
their works under the fignature of Plautus, 
Before the art of printing was known, this 
fpecies of fraud was equally common and 
y 2 eafy. 



^24 COMMENTARIES ON 

eafy. The four firft tragedies are better 
than the others, but in them all there, is 
very little conformity to the tragic ftyle. 
The fineft fubje&s of Euripides and Sopho- 
cles evaporate in long declamation and in 
an inflated ftyle. 

Emptinefs, bornbafi, a mafs of gigantic 
defcriptions, a claming of far-fetched anti- 
thefes, an involved concifenefs of phrafe, 
and an infupportable diffufenefs in the 
thoughts, are the prominent features of 
thefe unhappy imitations which have left 
their authors fo far behind their celebrated 
models. They are not, however, abfolutely 
devoid of every fpecies of merit ; they 
have fome beauties, and critics have dis- 
cerned and acknowledged them : fome in- 
genious, and fome bold thoughts ; fome 
brilliant traits, eloquent paffages, and thea- 
trical ideas are here and there to be found. 
The love of Phaedra for Hyppolttus the fon 
of her huiband Thefeus, is the fubjefl: of 
the be.ft of thefe tragedies. When rejeded 
by Hf ppolftus, (he accufes him to her huf- 
band of having attempted to feduce her- 

The 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 325 

The father liftens to the accufation, banifhes 
the fuppofed feducer, and implores Nep- 
tune to punifh him. As he flies from 
Athens, his horfes are frightened by a fea 
monfter, who convey him to tfoe fhore, 
and drag him over rocks and precipices, 
where he is trampled under their feet, and 
crufhed by the wheels of the chariot. When 
the ftory is known at Athens, Phaedra 
confeffes her crime and hangs herfelf. 

In one refpecl: the play is better conduc- 
ted by Seneca, than by its original author. 
The Roman tragedian makes Phsedra her- 
felf declare her paffion for H^ppolitus, 
which the Grecian lefs adroitly intrufts to 
the intervention of a nurfe. Seneca con- 
cludes the piece with the confeffion of 
Phsedra as to her own guilt ; an atteftation 
of the innocence of the prince, and her 
fuicide, are the neceffary tributes to poetical 
juftice. Seneca feems, to have totally mif- 
underftood the proper office of the chorus. 
Dr. Hard has fully illuftrated this point in 
his commentary on Horace's Art of Poetry. 
I a the third act of the Hjfppolytus, when 
y 3 " it 



326 COMMENTARIES ON 

" ir ought to have warned againft credulity 
and to have pitied the deluded father," it 
declaims on the unequal diftribiuion of 
good and ill. 

This is owing to an injudicious imitation 
of Euripides, without any attention to cha^- 
rafter or fituation, 

French writers have made much ufe of 
particular paffages from thefe tragedies, 
which they found remarkable either for 
the found nefs of their fenfe or the energy 
of their expreffion. Seneca embraced the 
Epicurean philofophy, which was much 
ftudied at Rome ; and fome of his boldeft 
fentiments have been copied by Lucretius. 

In one of his plays the chorus, the moral 
perfonage in all the ancient tragedies, 
ehaunts this verfe ; 

*' There is nothing after death, death is even nothing. ,? 

In the Agrippina are the two following 
lines : 

4t One hour after my death, my departed foul 
Shall be what it was an hour before my birth." 

Liberty 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 327 

Liberty of opinion at Rome on this fub- 
je£t is indifputable. The laws only requi- 
red that the eftablifhed religion mould be 
treated with refpe£t 

The many plagiarifms which have been 
made from this author, prove him to have 
been a poet not unworthy of attention nor 
of praife ; but the fmall reputation which 
he has as a tragedian, and the paucity of 
his readers are an evidence of this truth, 
which writers mould ever retain in view, 
that it is not the fcanty merit of fome bril- 
liant paffages which wall attract the regard 
and veneration of pofterity. We may be 
furprifed by fparks, but are pleafed only 
with rays of light. Labour more intenfe, 
and beauties more copioufly diffufed, are 
required to raife durable monuments of 
literary fame. 

If however while w r e look for ftrokes of a 
fine imagination in Seneca, we are dilguf- 
ted with empty conceits, the fault perhaps 
is to be lefs imputed to the poet than to the 
<age ; for the declamatory modes of the 
Y 4 fchools 



528 COMMENTARIES ON 

fchools had fo vitiated the public t-afte, as 
to render it infenfible to every beauty 
except fuch as depended on the ftrudture 
of fentences. It is certainly a fubjecT: 
of regret, that the only writer we have of 
Roman tragedy fhould prefent us with £d 
obje&ionable a ftyle. 

The theatres of the Romans, which at 
firft were built of wood, and by no means 
of expenfive architecture, gradually noti- 
fied a people who fet no bounds to their 
luxury. C. Antonius entertained the city 
with ftage-plays in which the fcenes were 
covered with filver. Julius Casfar made 
the whole furniture of folid filver. Pom- 
pey's theatre contained forty thoufand 
people, was furrounded by a portico, and 
had a fenate houfe or court of law adjoin- 
ing to it adapted to the fitting of the 
judges ; all which were finifhed at his own 
expence, and adorned with the fculpture of 
the fineft matters. At one end of it 
was a temple to Venus, to which her vota- 
ries afcended by the feats of the theatre. 

Every 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 329 

Every fpecies of arnufement that prize 
fighters and wild beafts could afford, were 
furnifhed as an addition to the more ra- 
tional entertainment of the drama. The 
former revolted the refined tafte of Cicero, 
who fays of fuch fport, " that it fatiates 
while it pleafes, and is forgotten as foon 
as it is over,'' 

We may judge of the immenfe wealth 
of individuals at Rome, when we are 
told that no monarch in modern times 
could exhibit fuch fhews as fome of the 
principal fubje&s of that city. The thea- 
tres, like thofe of Greece, were opened at 
day-break, and the various entertainments 
ufually continued till the evening. Mufic 
lent its delightful aid, and Horace com- 
plains that the recitation had been ftripped 
of its ancient gravity by the fubflitution 
of inftruments as large as the trumpet, for 
the fimple flutes which in former times 
were ufed at the theatre. 

The faults of thofe who executed the 
declamatory part, became more evident 

in 



3$0 COMMENTARIES ON 

in proportion as the declamation attained 
a greater refemblance to finging; and it 
fhould feem as if that noble art dege- 
nerated into fuch meafures as conftitute 
the recitative of the modern Italian opera. 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 33I 



SECTION XII. 

Roman Satire, —Enn'ms. — Luciliys. — Varro. — Horace.-** 
JuvenaL — Perfius. 

Oatire, the produce of the oM comedy, 
was the firft fort of poetry that followed tjje 
dramatic, and a fejron from the fame^9®t; 
but the Roman fatirifts did not imitate the 
Greeks, either in the form of their verfe or 
in the nature of their fubjech 

Satire is a word originally Latin ; it figni- 
fies a mixture of all forts of fubje&s, but 
has been particularly applied to works 
which have raillery and pleafantry for their 
object. 

Of the writings of Ennius, which were 
epic, dramatic, and fatirical, nothing re- 
mains but a few fragments collected from 
the quotations of claffic authors. He lived 
about two hundred years before Chrift; and 
the friend of Scipio was honored with an 
epitaph which may be thus tranflated : 

-*s*The Kfelefs form of aged Ennius view, 

Who your brave anceftprs' atchievements drew ; 

Of 



3$2 COMMENTARIES ON 

Of fighs and tears let none the tribute give, 
For flill upon the lips of men I live." 

Lucilius, a Roman knight, was born at 

Aurunca, about one hundred and forty-nine 

years before Chrift. Although he wrote 

in the time of Scipio Africanus, he had even 

in the Auguftan age fuch zealous partizans 

that they were difpleafed with Horace for 

comparing his poetry to a ftream which 

rolls down much dirt amidft its native 

purity. Of thirty fatires a few verfes only 

remain ; and if by his great fuperiority to 

his predeceffors he was confidered as the 

founder of Roman fatires, this fuperiority 

appears to have proceeded rather from his 

learning and his boldnefs, than from his 

fmoothnefs or elegance, Quintilian, who 

thinks the judgment of Horace too fevere, 

does not place himfelf amongft thofe ardent 

admirers of Lucilius; who not only preferred 

him to all writers of fatire, but to poets 

of every defcription. 

The envious and malignant are always 

willing to allow the bitternefs of inve£tive 

to atone for the want of tendernefs in com- 

pofition. 

P. Terentiua 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 2>33 

P. Terentius Varro was born fomewhat 
lefs than half a century before Chrift. He 
was a voluminous writer, but none of his 
fatires have reached our time. Quintilian 
fays, there is another and earlier fpecies of 
fatire compofed by Varro, the moft learned 
of the Romans. He blended feveral kinds 
of verfes ; and not only intermingled profe 
with verfe, but Greek with Latin. 

If an attention to fomething like chrono- 
logical order render it proper to allude to 
thofe writers whofe labours have been loft 
to pofterity; after the perufal of a dull and 
tedious catalogue of names, we are generally 
confoled by others who will be holden in 
univerfal veneration until the Goths of ig- 
norance fhall diffufe a fecond darknefs over 
the civilized world. 

HORACE. 

Q^ Horatius Flaccus was born at Ve- 

nufia, fixty-five years before Chrift. His 

father, though only a freedman, by fome 

faid to have been a collector of taxes, by 

4 others 



J34 COMMENTARIES Off 

others a fifhmonger, gave him the rrioft 
liberal education, and received from him 
the well-earned tribute of filial gratitude* 
The rudiments of learning he acquired un- 
der the beft teachers at Rome ; and his 
education was completed by an attendant 
on the leSures of the firft philosophers at 
Athens. To talents of the brighter! kind 5 
he joined an eager and affiduous application 3 
it is no wonder therefore that we find in 
him an all-accomplifhed fcholar. Unfor- 
tunately for his military, rather than his 
literary fame, he became a tribune to Bru- 
tus ; for when he had difgraced himfelf by 
his cowardice at the battle of Philippi, he 
entirely abandoned the profeffion of arms, 
and applied himfelf to the cultivation of 
poetry. In an age when genius was re- 
fpedted by the great, he was recommended 
and introduced by Virgil and Varius to the 
emperor and his minifter ; and the liberal 
patronage they afforded him, vindicates the 
warm panegyric with which he repays their 
favour. 

6 * He 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 335 

He died at about the age of fifty-fix ; 
and his end was probably accelerated by the 
lofs of Maecenas, whom he furvived only a 
few weeks, and near whofe tomb he was 
interred. He declared Auguftus his heir, 
but was too weak to be able to affix a 
fignature to his will. 

The works of this incomparable author, 
equally the delight of our early and ma- 
turer years, our companion in retirement 
and our affociate at the feftive board, have 
fo often been the theme of commentators, 
paraphrafers, critics, and admirers, that it is 
not eafy to difcover a fingle beauty in them 
which has at this late period been un- 
explored. On the prefent occafion nothing 
new muft be expected ; but the contem- 
plation andthepraife of acknowledged ex- 
cellence can fcarcely produce fatigue by 
repetition. 

Horace, perceiving that Lucilius had 
wandered very frequently from his fubjecl:, 
that he was negligent in his compofition and 
incorrect in his metre, aimed to avoid the 
faults of his predeceffor. But the peculiar 

excellencies 



336 COMMENTTARtES ON 

excellencies of his fatires, are the utility or* 
his moral precepts and the delicacy of his 
raillery. If we find in them no poetical 
harmony, the defecT: is amply compenfated 
by merit of a fuperior kind. 

With the keeneft ridicule they purfue 
the follies and put to fhame the Vices of 
mankind. In this Horace found no model 
amongft the Greeks, nor any one worthy 
of imitation amongft his own countrymen; 
Where mall we meet in a profane writer 
better inftru&ions how to regulate human 
defires ; to diftinguifh truth from falfhood ; 
ideas from realities ; and to remove all 
hurtful prejudices from the mind? Who-, 
ever reads them without reforming his errors^ 
is in the fituation of the invalid who ren- 
ders his malady incurable by refufing to 
apply the antidote* 

In the common acceptation of the term^ 
Horace was not an epicurean : for modera- 
tion in defires, that mother of vvifdom ; and 
a pure confcience, the foundation of happi- 
nefs, heearneftly and frequently exhorts his 
followers to maintain. To be indulgent to 

others 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. ^J 

others and fevere to ourfelves are hinges of 
his moral precepts. He fpeaks with rapture 
of the pleafure of retirement ; of the attrac- 
tions of friendfliip ; of the delights of a rural 
and peaceful life ; and of the love of our 
country. 

In the firft book of the fatires it is his 
obvious endeavour to eradicate vice ; and 
in the fecond to difpel thofe prejudices 
which infeft the human mind. Such only 
is the epicurifm of Horace. 

The epiftles are an appendix to the fa- 
tires : they not only exhibit a forcible 
ftyle of writing, but contain a valuable 
fyftem of ethics. Socrates refuted before he 
taught, well knowing that the ground 
ought firft to be cleared from weeds before 
it be fown with corn. The fatires are the 
purifiers of pafiion, and the epiftles are the 
leflbns of virtue to fill up the vacancies in 
the mind. His addrefles to Msecenas are 
not the language of a mean parafite, but 
the effufions of a grateful heart to its bene* 
fa&or. The minifter when dying recom- 
mended him to his prince in thefe few re- 
z markable 



338 COMMENTARIES <JN 

rnarkable words : " Remember Horace^ 
as you would remember me." Auguftus in 
a letter to the poet upbraids him for conceal- 
ing from pofterity in his writings their inti- 
mate friendmip 5 and hence he takes occa- 
fion to write that fine epiftle to him, begin- 
ning with the words, " Cum tot fujiineas" 

By a critic it has been obferved, that 
his epiftles are amongfl the moil valuable 
productions of antiquity. That except 
thofe of the fecond book, and one or two in 
the firft, they are of the familiar kind, 
abounding in moral fentiments and judi- 
cious obfervations on life and manners. He 
had cultivated his judgment with great ap- 
plication ; and his tafte was guided by an 
intuitive perception of moral beauty, apti- 
tude, and propriety. 

Horace has been accufed of being a cour- 
tier, but when do we find in him the buftle, 
the inquietude, the love of place and of 
power, incident to that character ? 

It mould alfo be remembered, that thofe 

who deteited the prescriptions of O&avius* 

efteemed the government of Auguftus: it 

3 would 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 339 

would be injuftice to Horace and to Virgil 
to reproach them for having celebrated a 
reign which for forty years conftituted the 
happinefs of Rome, and procured to Augus- 
tus, after his death, the fears and regrets of 
the whole empire. 

Horace was particularly introduced here 
to take his place? and a diftinguifhed one he 
may claim, amongft the writers of Roman 
fatire ; but as it was impoffible not to confi- 
der him at the fame time in the light of a 
moral teacher, fo it may be right to contem- 
plate him as a lyric poet in the prefent view* 
rather than under a diftincT: head. From 
the foundation of Rome till the time of 
Auguftus, the Romans had no other lyric 
poetry than their firffc extemporary eflays, 
the hymns of the Salii^ which were a col- 
lection of fongs chanted by the priefts as 
early as the reign of Numa in honor of great 
men. He was therefore the firft, and, pro- 
jperly fpeaking, the only lyric poet amongft 
the Romans; and we cannot Sufficiently 
admire his happy imitations of all the mo- 
dels which the Greeks afforded him. He 
z a refembles, 



34^ COMMENTARIES ON 

refembles, at pleafure, Alcaeus, Stefichorus, 
and Sappho. If he muft yield to Pindar, he 
is unqueftionably fuperior to Anacreon 5 and 
his inferiority to the Theban has by fome 
critics been attributed to the defe&s of the 
Roman mufic, which, unlike the Grecian, 
could not accommodate itfelf to the proper 
divifions of the ode. They had no inftru- 
ment but the flute, the lyre, and the fiftrum, 
lately imported from Egypt. 

In Horace are combined the poet, the 
critic, the moral philofopher, and the man 
of the world. The ode, which was a fhort 
poem compofed for the harp and admitted 
every kind of verfe, allowed alfo every fort 
of fubjecT:. 

His odes are pathetic, heroic, and ama- 
tory ; the feventeenth of the fecond book 
is of the firft kind, and was written during 
the laft illnefs of Maecenas. " Cur me que- 
relis cxanimas tuis?" It has been well ob- 
ferved of him, that he has given to a rough 
language the tender and delicate modula- 
tions oftheeaftern fong; that in variety of 

fentiment 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 341 

fentiment and felicity of expreffion he is fu- 
perior to every competitor of either nation. 
Elegant without affectation, and moral even 
in the midft of gaiety. 

Of the heroic odes, one of the mod cele- 
brated is that to Fortune where he invokes 
her, and recommends Auguftus and the Ro- 
mans to her care. He deplores the civil 
war and the general corruption of man- 
ners. Some ideas contained in this ode, 
beginning " Diva y gratum qua regis An- 
tium" are taken from the twelfth of Pindar's 
Olympics. The poet feems here divinely in- 
fpired. He mounts into the heavens; he de- 
fcends to the fhades below to fly with For- 
tune around, through, and over the fea. On 
a fudden he reprefents her under a formida- 
ble appearance, and depi&ures Neceflity 
with its dreadful engines. Then he gives 
her a more pleafing retinue, Hope and 
Fidelity. He exhibits her mourning in the 
palaces of great men who have been dis- 
graced ; he marks the conduct of falfe 
friends at her departure, " who watch the 

z 3 fign 



342 COMMENTARIES ON 

fign to hate ;" and finally he recommeitd& 
Auguftus to her partial care. 

Horace has about thirty amorous cdes, 
which evince the fine and delicate tafte df 
which he was pofleffed. They are origi- 
nal cotnpofitions, having no models in 
other poets: they are chefs-d'oeuvre & 
polifhed by the fineft tafte. The fub-* 
je£t of them is equally pleafirig in all lan- 
guages, and amongft every refined peo- 
ple. In the ode to Pyrrha, Cc £$uis multa 
gracilis^ &c" there is a mixture of fweet- 
nefs and reproach, of praife and fatire, 
which has always been the life of this 
fpecies of commerce, and the bafis of the 
converfation of lovers. Scaliger calls this 
ode the pureft nedar. 

In his addrefs to Venus, " Venus, regi~ 
na Cnidi Paphique" the poet difplays the 
tranfcendency of his talents in a few lines 
beautiful and delegable beyond a parallel, 

" Cum tu, Lydia, Tekphi^ has the fpirit 
and foftnefs of Sappho ; and the dialogue 
between Horace and Lydk is a poem con- 
fecrated to the Graces. 

Horace 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 343 

Horace can equally inflame the mind by 
his enthufiaftn, and calm it by his philo- 
fophy. Whence can ftronger arguments 
for contentment be drawn than ace conr 
tained in his admirable ode to Dellius ? In 
no uninfpired writer was the fhortnefs of 
life ever depidlured in more ftriking co- 
lours. It contains the difparagement of 
wealth and the confolation of poverty ; and 
if perfect equanimity could be attained 
by reafon and reflection, the fweet ftrains 
of the poet would infallibly produce it. 

His hymn to the praife of the gods and 
of illuftrious men is di&ated by the pureft 
infpiration ; and the ode written at the cele- 
bration of the fecular games by the com- 
mand of the emperor, when three whole 
days and nights were devoted to the fefti- 
val, may claim the palm when put in 
competition with the fined compofitions of 
the Greeks. 

In the Art of Poetry, which has been fo 

ably criticifed that I forbear to add an 

opinion which would have no weight, 

z 4 Horace 



344 COMMENTARIES OK 

Horace vindicates his choice of lyric poetry 
while he gives rules for the conduct of the 
drama. In this poem fome readers have 
found an " unity of defign and accuracy of 
composition, while others confider it as 
containing only an unconne&ed fet of pre- 
cepts written with a view to reform the 
Roman ftage." 

Upon the whole he feems to unite in 
himfelf the excellencies of Anacreon and 
of Pindar : he has the gaiety of the one 
and the enthufiafm of the other. The 
Theban bard, by dwelling for ever on the 
fame fubje£t, retains always the fame tone ; 
but Horace has all tones, and every one in 
perfedion. When he takes his lyre, and is 
feized with the poetic fpirit, he is at once 
cither tranfported into the council of the 
gods, to the ruins of Troy, or to the fum- 
mit of the Alps ; and his mufe always 
rifes to the fubjed which infpires it. He 
is majeftic in Olympus and charming with 
his miftrefs. It cofts him no more to 
paint with traits fublime the foul of Cato 
ox of Regulus, than enchantingly to fing 
2 the 



CLASSICAL XEAHNING. 345 

the carefles of Lalage or the coquetries of 
Pyrrha. 

Such was Horace, the delight of his 
contemporaries and of every man of 
learning and of tafte in every fubfequent 
age- 
He is the author of all antiquity who 
feems to have made the happieft union of 
the gentleman and the fcholar, whofe ge- 
nius was expanded by culture, and whofe 
excellent education would have availed 
little but for the tranfcendency of his natu- 
ral endowments. 

If the parent of a numerous family 
were to perceive his houfe on fire, and 
that he had the power to fave only one 
child from deftrudtion, his equal affe&ion 
would forbid difcrimination or choice, and 
the firft who prefented himfelf to his arms 
would be fecure of his protection. But if 
the art of printing had not happily pre- 
cluded the poffibility of a fimilar accident 
ever happening to the works of the an- 
cients, and a conflagration more terrible 
than that of Alexandria fhould threaten to 

involve 



346 COMMENTARIES ON ' 

involve them in one general ruin, where 
is the fcholar of tafte who would not pafs 
by a crowd of poets, orators^ and hiftorians 
with all the voluminous lumber of com- 
mentators and critics in order to refcue his 
favourite Horace from the flames ? 



JUVENAL. 

There is no poet of whofe life fewer ac- 
counts have reached us than of Juvenal. 

He is faid to have been born at Aquinum, 
fifty years after our Saviour; and that 
like every other man of letters he eagerly 
repaired to Rome, He was a declaimer 
and a fatirift ; and both his fpeeches and hi^ 
writings exhibited the boldnefs rather than 
the prudence of his character. 

That he fhould unrefervedly reprove the 
vices of fuch an emperor as Nero, excites in 
us a great degree of furprize ; a (till greater? 
that he did it with impunity. 

During the life of the tyrant he remained 
unmolefted. His fuccefTor, Domitian, fent 

him 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 347 

him into exile under the pretence of ap- 
pointing him governor of a province on the 
confines of Egypt. The toils of office were 
irkfome to a man nearly four-fcore years 
of age ; and it was with extreme joy that 
he returned to Rome in the reign of Tra- 
jan, where he died about the year one hun- 
dred and twenty-eight. 

He is the only poet of his time who was 
endued with a republican foul. The writers 
of the Auguftan age acquiefce willingly in 
the extinction of liberty, and freely enjoy 
the bleffings conferred upon them by the 
partiality of an arbitrary prince. 

For this indeed they might plead fome 
apology. The bloody revolution which 
ftifled thelaft fighs of Roman freedom, had 
not yet abfolutely corrupted the foul. 
While the cruel but politic O&avius had 
ftrewed the road to defpotifm with flowers, 
the public manners were by no means fo 
depraved as in the reigns of Tiberius, Cali- 
gula, and Nero. It happened at Rome as it 
leems to have done in recent times, that the 
remembrance of the horrors attendant on 

civil 



348 COMMENTARIES ON 

civil difcord made them adore the author 
of the new calm. They derived a fpecies 
of happinefs from no longer dreading to 
find their names in tables of profcription ; 
and amidft the amufements of the amphi- 
theatre and the circus they forgot to vindi- 
cate the privileges of a citizen, of which for 
many ages their fathers had been fo zea- 
lous. 

If any one of a more daring fpirit were 
defirous to afk of Auguftus by what right 
he erefted himfelf a matter of the world, 
one look from the ufurper would frown him 
into filence. But the atrocities of the reign 
of Nero, and the unconquerable temper of 
Juvenal forbade him to fink into indiffe- 
rence or lethargy ; nor were there, as in the 
former period, any enjoyments to counter- 
balance the misfortunes and the miferies of 
the times. Juvenal commenced his career 
therefore by doing that for morals and for 
liberty, which Horace did for decorum and 
good tafte. He profefTed himfelf their 
champion and friend. He equally de- 
claimed againft the public vices, and againft 

ufurped 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 349 

ufurped power ; and recalled to the minds 
of the Romans -the happy days of their vir- 
tue and independence. 

His mtife was as vigorous as his mind ; 
but the attempt to abolifh vice was an enter- 
prize as ufelefs as it was bold. 

He lived in an age when all patriot ardor 
was extinct. The citizens were not only 
become flaves, but enervated by all the 
crimes which luxury numbers in her train. 
The executioner was then more required 
than the cenfor or the fatirift. The facred 
name of liberty was never mentioned; and 
the hiftory of that period is but a catalogue 
of perfidies, imprifonments, and aflaffina- 
tions. 

In conjunctures like thefe, Juvenal de- 
fpifed the light armour of ridicule,fo familiar 
and becoming to his predeceflbr : he bran- 
difhes the broad fword of invective, and, 
running from the throne to the tavern, he 
ftrikes at every one whom he perceives to 
be a traitor to virtue. Auftere and conftant 
to his principles, he fometimes rifes even 
fo the tone of tragedy ; and if he laugh, his 

laugh 



350 COMMENTARIES ON 

laugh is even more formidable than his 
rage. 

•? Seldom he fmiles, and fmiles in fuch a fort 
As if he mocked himfelf; 
And fcorned his fpirit that could be moved 
To fmile at any thing." 

ShakspeAre. 

He concerns himfelf only about vice and 
virtue, fervitude and freedom, folly and 
wifdom. To truth he facrifices all meaner 
views. The dictates of urbanity and the 
views of policy he confidered dear only to 
thofe whofe morals are but external appear- 
ances. His plan was certainly of the no- 
bleft kind, to exhibit the degradation of 
human nature when guided folely by its 
defires. The fpirit which di&ated his fatire 
was a regard for the public good ; and when 
in his rage he immolates his vi&ims, they 
are fo odious and deformed that we can- 
not lament their fate. When he has com- 
bated wickednefs, he mounts to the fource 
of evil and diffipates the delufion of ficti- 
tious virtues. His fine harangues againft 
our vain prejudices are ftronger than any 

arguments, 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 3$t 

arguments, and feem to have been ani- 
mated and fortified by the habit of thofe 
fcholaftic difputations which had occupied 
his youth. 

His, panegyrifts aflert that the blemifhes 
which ftain his writings belong rather to 
his age than to the author, yet a flight re- 
currence to them will probably convince 
his readers, that feverity was congenial to 
the conftitution of his mind. His zeal 
fometimes appears exceffive, and his attacks 
unpardonable, becaufe they were indifcrimi- 
nate. 

Some of his fatires were written under 
Trajan, fome under Adrian, one only under 
Domitian, and him he had the temerity to 
praife. 

His general tone is equally bitter in all 
thefe reigns ; and it is a folecifm in his hif- 
tory, and a blot in his reputation that he 
had no eulogy for Trajan, that model of 
good princes: who could condefcend to 
praife Domitian, that monfter of mankind. 

An oppofite conduct would have given 
him celebrity as a writer as well as a mora- 

lift: 



3J2 COMMENTARIES ON 

lift: but he feems never to have known 
what Tacitus well underftood, that contfaft 
beftows on ftyle as it does on painting i its 
intereft, its charms and its variety. 

One therefore of the faults of Juvenal is 
a monotony, which often revolts and fome- 
times fatigues the reader. It has been ob- 
jeded to him, and not entirely without rea- 
fon, that he fees nothing but monfters, and 
paints nothing but objeds of deformity; 
that he always difgufts and never confoles, 
allowing not his reader to repofe for an 
inftant on a fingle foft and agreeable fentU 
ment. His cenfure of the female character 
is certainly without excufe, becaufe it does 
not balance their virtues againft their faults, 
but is an indifcriminate libel againft the 
wjhole fex. In Pliny, a contemporary ram 
iwsascfit, fome are mentioned who profefled 
morals, humanity, the love of talents and of 
merit. A young man once abufing women 
as an abandoned race ; one of them fenfibly 
obferved that he had certainly forgotten that 
he had a mother. 

Objedions 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 153 

Objections likewife have been made to his 
ftyle. He has been a ecu fed of a painful 
harfhnefs of diclion ; blamed for the ufe of 
accumulated and extravagant metaphors ; 
for verfes replete with fcientific epithets, and 
fo thickly fet with Greek words as to render 
the conftrucYion particularly difficult. 

Other critics however, and amongft them 
Mr. Gibbon, have thought very differently 
of his ftyle; they have confidered his veri- 
fication fuperior to mod of the Latin poets, 
and particularly fuited to his fubjecl: anS 
his difpofition, often fmooth, harmonious, 
and animated, although he never tacnfices 
fenfe to found. 

If he be fometimes a car ieatu rift, he is 
frequently a juft painter; his fatire on the 
nobles is very fine ; and his defcription of 
the courtiers of Domitian, in the fourth 
book, has perhaps unrivalled excellence. 

His tenth fatire on the vanity of human 
wifhes pofferTes very diftinguiihed beauties 
but the arguments he would draw from 
it are not quite conclufive; nor are all the 
examples an illuftration of the fentiment : 

A A it 



354 COMMENTARIES ON 

it is not true that great talents, long life, 
and high ftation are not proper obje&s of 
our defire, becaufe they have fometimes 
difappointed the expectations, and fome- 
times been injurious to the felicity of their 
pofleffors; and Mr. Gibbon has well ob- 
ferved, that though Sejanus furnifti an in- 
ftance of popular inconftancy, yet Alexan- 
der is certainly not an inftance in point ; 
that, " Here the poet has failed to diftin- 
guifh between thofe wifhes, the accom- 
plifhment of which could not fail to make 
us miferable, and thofe whofe accomplifh- 
ment might fail to make us happy. Abfo- 
lute power is of the firft kind, long life of 
the fecond." The misfortune of Alexander 
confided in being cut off in the midft of 
his fuccefs. 

It has been thought by fome, that the 
grofs manner in which Juvenal expofes vice 
to ridicule, rather encourages than difarms 
the licentious and the debauched. 

But as the avowed advocate for virtue, 

he confidered his provocations great, and 

revenged them accordingly. In fome in- 

6 fiances, 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 355 

ftances, the two great Roman fatirifts have 
fallen on the fame fubje&s ; and where 
Horace is pleafant, Juvenal is fevere ; the 
one only laughs at vice, the other crufhes 
it under his feet ; the one is the comic, 
the other the tragic fatirift. 

In verfification and numbers, Juvenal 
has the advantage over his predeceflbr. 
While the fentiments are juft, manly, and 
elevated, the expreffions and the verfe are 
noble, and well adapted to the fublirnity of 
the thoughts. To the brighter!: talents, he 
added the pureft morals ; and the reader 
who refpects the clearnefs of his head, 
cannot fail to revere the goodnefs of his 
heart. 

He may perhaps be called the laft of the 
Roman poets. After his time the decline 
of genius was followed by the corruption 
of tafte. The fophifts ufurped the name of 
orators and the place of poets, and compi- 
lers and commentators darkened the face 
of learning. The Romans might then 
fairly be called by the name which they 
A A 2 applied 



35^ , COMMENTARIES ON 

applied to all the world except the Greeks, 
barbarians. 

When the fierce giants of the north in- 
vaded the Roman empire, they mended 
the puny breed. They reftored a manly 
fpirit of freedom, and after the revolution 
of ten centuries, this fpirit inft igated inqui- 
ry, and freedom became the happy parent 
of fcience and of tafte. 

PERSIUS. 

Aulus Perfius Flaccus was a. native of 
Volaterrse, and born about thirty years 
after Chrift. His family was equeftrian, 
and his fortune was confiderable. When 
twelve years old he was fent for education 
to Rome, where he ftudied philofophy 
under the floic Cornutus, the ableft precep- 
tor of his time, and became accomplifhed 
in all the learning of his age. What is 
ufually called fcience was at that period 
little known. The laws of the folar fyftern 
were not yet inveftigated, and fmall pro- 

grefs 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 357 

grefs was made in the knowledge of nature. 
The teachers of the various fe£fcs deviated 
into fpecious difcuffions more ingenious 
than ufeful ; into fubje&s too abftrufe to 
have any influence on life and manners. 

Perfms died at a very early period, but 
the fix fatires he has left are not a very 
copious production of thirty years. 

The warmed friendfliip fubfifted be- 
tween him and Cornutus, and when the 
latter 'prefented to the fifters of his pupil 
a large fum of money which Perfius had 
left to himfelf, his conduct attefled the 
generofity of his mind, rather than the 
fraternal affection of his friend. 

The fubjects treated of by Perfius are ; 
the vanity of the poets of his time ; the 
unwillingnefs of youth to acquire the 
knowledge and the pra&ice of morals ; the 
badnefs of the government of Nero, ob- 
liquely rather than dire&ly attacked. The 
manner of his writing has been generally 
cenfured by modern critics ; but we fh&uld 
remember that he was read with avidity 
a a 3 by 



358 COMMENTARIES ON 

by his contemporaries, and that from their 
tribunal an appeal will fcarcely be allowed. 

At this remote period we lofe much of 
the pleafure which the perufaj of him 
might otherwife afford, from our ignorance 
of the characters which he defcribes. The 
portraits were drawn from nature, and 
recognifed by thofe who could trace their 
fimilitude to the originals. 

His peculiar attributes are, gravity of 
ftyle, feverity of morals, great good fen fe, 
and much concifenefs. The excefs of 
thefe virtues becomes a defecl : he that 
is only juft is apt to be harm ; he that is 
always fage is occafionally fevere : th€ 
concifenefs of Juvenal is one caufe of his 
obfcurity. A father of the church is faid 
to have thrown his fatires on the ground, 
faying, " Since you will not be underftood, 
remain there.'' Another threw them into 
the fire with this jeft ; " Let us burn them 
to make' them clear. 55 

While fome critics difallow him any 
merit, others place him above Horace and 

Juvenal : 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. $59 

Juvenal ; truth lies between thefe extremes. 
Quintillan fays of him that he has defer- 
red much true glory : his expreffions are 
fometimes very happy, his precepts gene- 
rally thofe of a wife man, and they were 
committed to the memory as moral pro- 
verbs : but ftill he has the fault of obfcu- 
rity ; and clearnefs is the firil merit of 
every writer. 

It has been faid for him, that, wifhing 
to attack Nero and not daring to do it 
openly, he concealed his meaning by de- 
fign. But obfcurity, his prominent fault, 
is apparent throughout his whole work : 
ftill it is not the erFe£t of a confufed ap- 
prehenfion, nor of a fearch for recondite 
ideas ; it proceeds from the multitude 
of ellipfes, the fuppreffion of intermediate 
members of the fentence, the frequent ufe 
of the boldeft figures, which crowd into a 
fingle verfe too great a number of circum- 
ftances more or lefs feparated the one 
from the other, and offer to the under- 
ftanding too many objects to be embraced 
at one time. 

A a 4 The 



360 COMMENTARIES ON 

The flructure of his dialogue is fo im- 
perfect, that it requires a painful attention 
to follow the fpeakers, to fill up the con- 
nection, and to join a thread which is 
perpetually broken. When this is done 
we perceive that all is juft and confequen- 
tial, and only complain that he feems to 
think intelligibility too common a quality 
of ftyle, and appears to wifh that his 
meaning mould rather be conjectured than 
intuitive. 

His Profopopeia of Avarice and Pleafure, 
the one awakening the man, the other ex- 
horting him to fleep, fo that the unhappy 
wretch knows not which to attend to, is 
extremely fine. It is much to the credit of 
Perfnis that he was a real admirer of 
Horace : he characterifes him in his fatires ? 
often avails himfelf of his ideas, and fhews 
that his works were entirely familiar to him. 

In a fatire addreffed to his tutor, he 
paints with noble and tender traits the fin- 
cerity of his regard for him. 

In this fatire it has been well cbferved, 
that " there is a more agreeable picture 

of 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 361 

of domeftic comfort than might be expect- 
ed in the family of a Stoic." 

How bleit with thee to pafs the livejong day, 
With thee at eve the frugal board to fharc, 

In toil and reft our kindred minds difplay, 

While modeft meals unbend the brow o£ care. 



His kind monitor reilrained him from 
publishing his fatires during the life of 
Nero, but this caution did not fecure him 
from a premature death. He was executed 
by order of the government. 

Cefius Baffus, a lyric poet, to whom 
Perfius addrefled one of his fatires, was 
more bold and more fortunate. He was 
the publimer of his works, and yet his 
temerity remained unpunimed. To com- 
plete the eulogium of Perfius in refpecT: to 
the moral part of his character, it ought to 
be remembered that he was the friend of 
Thrafea, of whom Tacitus faid, that Nero 
determined to deftroy him, when he wifhed 
to attack virtue itfelf. 



362 COMMENTARIES ON 



SECTION XIII. 

Latin Epic Poetry. — Lucretius*— VirgiL — Ov/W.— Z«- 
cati.—Silius Italicus* — Valerius Flaccus. — Statins* 

-About ninety years before our asra, 
T. Lucretius Cams was born at Rome, but 
received the principal part of his education 
at Athens. He was a difciple of the fe£fc 
of Epicurus, and the firft writer amongft 
the Romans who united philofophy with 
poetry. 

The tradition which declares him to have 
written his poetry in the lucid intervals of 
a delirium, is fcarcely credible 5 but when it 
is faid that a wearinefs of life impelled him 
to fuicide fo early as in his forty-fourth 
year, the tenets of his mailer which vindi- 
cated his conduct will command our belief 
of the fa£t. 

His philofophical opinions are contained 
In a work intitled, " De Rerum Natural 

the 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 363 

the language of which has by fome critics 
been confidered fuperior to that of every 
other Latin author. They affert that, 
when his fubjecl: will allow it, he exhibits 
more life and fire than Virgil ; that he 
then breaks out like lightning from a dark 
cloud with unequalled force and bright- 
nefs. It has been weir obferved, that a 
mixture of obfolete words gives him an air 
of folemnity, and that the refolution of 
diphthongs inftils into the Latin the melo- 
dy of the Greek language. 

The Mantuan bard has certainly no lines 
more forcible than are contained in the 
epifode of Cacus, which are elegant and 
harmonious. The defcriptions of a pefti- 
lence and of the delights of love are the 
moft diftinguiihed parts of the poem, and 
no one has more highly coloured both the 
frightful and attractive in nature. The 
conclufion of the third book, where Nature 
upbraids her ungrateful children for their 
impious difcontent, is a fine relic from 
the elaborate difputations that precede it. 
Towards the end of the fifth book, every 

reader 



364 COMMENTARIES ON 

reader is charmed with the delicious fcenes 
there unfolded, and the defcription of the 
commencement and refinement of art- 
Lucretius well defcribes rural {implicit)*, 
and the domeRic happinefs of innocent and 
contented poverty. 

Ylrgii in his Oeorgics has been his imi- 
tator, and Ovid thought his poem would 
endure tilt the diffolution of the earth. 
Many modern poets have imitated Lucre- 
tius, and the fame monk of Florence, Poggio 
Bracciolini, who refcued the invaluable in- 
ftittites of Quintilian from deftrucTion, has 
by feme perfons been confidered to have 
conferred an incalculable favour on pofte- 
rity when he preferved the difciple of 
Epicurus. Di\ Wart on calls him a fculptor- 
poet, from the bold relief of his images; 
and indeed his luminous ftyie has obtained 
him more panegyriits than his fentiments 
defer ve. 

He is the avowed advocate of atheiAn 
and impiety. Adopting for his bafis the 
atoms of Democritus, the fortuitous forma- 
tion 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 365 

tkm of the world, he difgufts the votaries 
of true religion and of found philo'fcphy. 
. The fluggard gods of Epicurus, funk la 
the calm of a perpetual lethargy, are as 
repugnant to our better notions of a Su- 
preme Intelligence, as the vicious deities 
which conftituted the popular fuperfiition of 
Greece and Rome. 

Falfe philofophy has ever been mingled 
with falfe religion ; the doclrine of gravi- 
tation was not unknown to Lucretius, and 
he ftrenuoufly attempts in his firft book to 
refute the idea that the univerfe has a 
centre to which every thing tends by the 
great law of nature. 

Perhaps the moral tenets of Epicurus 
have been mifunderftood, and Lucretius 
may have been lefs read than he deferves, 
from a general mifapprehenfion of the 
tendency of his tenets. 

The author of the feci taught that happi- 
nefs could only proceed from the cultiva- 
tion of the mental powers, and from a 
Uriel: attention to virtue. This is what he 
.denominated pleafure> and his accomplished 

difciple. 



366 COMMENTARIES ON 

difciple, in conformity to his inftitution,; 
ufes every rational diffuafive againft vice, 
and every incentive to virtue : but the 
foundation of all morals, the a&ive fuper- 
intendence of an omniprefent being finds 
no place in his fyftern of nature. 

Lucretius fays, that his work is written 
in verfe from the fame motive as actuates 
phyficians who, when they give worm-* 
wood to children, fmear the outfide of the 
cup with honey. 

But Quintilian obferves, that there is 
fome caufe to fear left the wormwood 
fhould predominate. The mafterly genius 
of the poet is every where confpicuous, 
and, had he lived under Auguftus, he would 
perhaps have chofen a happier fubjecl:, and 
proved a formidable rival to the beft poets 
of that illuftrious age. 

AUGUSTAN AGE. 

At the head of the writers of this mod 
diftinguifhed period, it is to be lamented 
that we cannot place the Emperor and his 

minifter 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 367 

minifter but by the teftimony of ancient 
authors. Were we iri pofleffion of the re- 
cords of their literary fame, they might 
have confoled us in fome degree in our 
reflections on cruelty and arbitrary power. 
Learning would have boafted of its tri- 
umph when it perceived a tyrant feeking 
for repofe in the bofom of literature, as 
well as endeavouring to atone for profcrip- 
tions and mafTacres by calling forth talents, 
and by patronifing merit. Suetonius in- 
forms us that Auguftus wrote both verfe 
and profe, and that Maecenas was an author 
on a variety of fubje&s, dramatic and bio- 
graphical. 

The temper of the former was probably 
mollified by the entire defeat of his ene- 
mies and the acquifition of unlimited 
power ; and it was no lefs grateful to the 
vanity than to the tafte of both, to counte- 
nance fuch poets as would prefent them 
with that poifon which is fo " fweet to the 
age's tooth." 

VIRGIL. 



368 COMMENTARIES Oltf 

VIRGIL. 

About feventy years before Chrift, the 
birth of Publius Virgilius Maro gave cele- 
brity to Andes, a fmall village near Mantua. 
His education was begun at the neighbour- 
ing town of Cremona, a place remarkable 
for the formation of tafte and the exercife 
of talents, and completed at Milan, the 
diftinguifhed feat of all the ingenuous 
arts. 

When the republican forces under Bru- 
tus and Caffius had experienced a fatal 
defeat at Philippi, and lands were divided 
amongft the foldiers of the conquerors, all 
the property of Virgil was included in the 
forfeiture. 

This apparently unfortunate event was 
the caufe of his future profperity and emi- 
nence. In his diftrefs he wifely repaired 
to Rome, folicited and obtained the patro- 
nage of Maecenas, by whofe means and 
thofe of Afinius Pollio he obtained an in- 
troduction to the Emperor Auguftus, and 
- S was 



CLASSICAL LEARNING, 369 

was fhortly after favoured with the reftora« 
tion of his eftate. By the liberality of his 
imperial patron and his courtiers, his cir- 
cumftances foon became affluent. 

It is almoft unneceffary to obferve of a 
writer who is in the hand of every fchool- 
boy, that his works are paftoral, agricul- 
tural, and epic. 

Iq all his poems, critics have declared him 
to be a plagiarift. Befides his acknow- 
ledged imitations of Homer, they have 
accufed him of borrowing from Ennius, 
Pacuvius, and Accius, as well as from his 
contemporaries Lucretius, Catullus, and 
Varius. Macrobius fays, that his fecond 
book of the iEneid, which contains the 
fine defcription of the fack of Troy, was 
borrowed almoft word for word from a 
Greek poet whofe works are loft, ^and 
whofg name was Piiaader. 

The firft production of Virgil was his 
Bucolics, confiding of ten eclogues, written 
in imitation of the Idyllia of Theocritus, 
begun in the twenty-ninth year of his age, 
and completed in three years. 

. B B It 



3JO COMMENTARIES ON 

It has been obferved, that there is fuch an 
incongruity between the fimple ideas of 
the fwain and the polifhed language of the 
courtier, as to render it very difficult to 
reconcile them by any arts of composition ; 
that the Doric dialed of Theocritus muft 
ever give to the Sicilian bard a pre-emi- 
nence in this fpecies of poetry ; that there 
are in the Bucolics of Virgil the native 
manners and ideas without any of the 
rufticity of paftoral life. 

Thofe critics who give the preference to 
Virgil have faid, that as he is more varied, 
he is alfo more elegant than Theocritus ; 
that his fhepherds have more fpirit without 
ever having too much, that his harmony 
has an inexpreffible charm, a mixture of 
fweetnefs and of art, which Horace confi- 
ders with reafcn as a particular prefent 
which the Mufes have made to him ; that 
he interefts more than the Sicilian poet in 
the fports and amours of his ruftics, and 
has no negligence or languor ; that it is 
impoffible to read thefe poems without 
committing them to memory, or at leaft 

without 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 371 

without deilring to read them over and 
over again. 

In atteftation of the excellence of the 
Bucolics, we are told that the Romans were 
fo enamoured of them that they were fre- 
quently recited upon the ftage, and that 
Cicero, hearing fome of them, exclaimed, 
Magna /pes altera Roma: ! 

His next compofition was the Georgics, 
the idea of which was taken from the 
Works and Days of Hefiod ; but there is 
no other fimilarity than that of their com- 
mon fubject. Hefiod delivers his precepts 
of agriculture with the utmoft fimplicity : 
Virgil has embellifhed his work with all 
the dignity which fublime verification can 
beftow. It is addreffed to Maecenas, at 
whofe requeft it was undertaken, and di- 
vided into four books. The firft treats of 
ploughing; the fecond of planting; the third 
of cattle ; and the fourth of bees, their food, 
polity, and difeafes. The whole concludes 
with the beautiful epifode of Ariftseus and 
Eurydice. The Georgics were written at 
Naples, and employed him feven years. 
B b 2 Confidered 



372 COMMENTARIES ON 

Confidered as dida&ic poems, and adapted 
to the climate of Italy, they have the high- 
eft claim to merit. As poetical compofi- 
tions, their elevated flyle, the beauty of 
their fimilies, the fentiments interfperfed in 
them, and the elegance of their di&ion, 
excite the admiration of every judicious 
reader. During four days which Auguftus 
pafled at Atella on his return to Rome, to 
refrefh himfelf from fatigue after the battle 
of Adtitim, the Georgics were read to him 
by the author, who was occafionally re- 
lieved in his tafk by his friend Maecenas. 

It is fuggefted by Mr. Gibbon, that Au- 
guftus was highly delighted with the 
Georgics from a motive lefs creditable both 
to himfelf and to the bard, than that of 
found criticifm and good tafte. That he 
rejoiced in every thing which could recon- 
cile his foldiers to a peaceful life ; and that 
the defcription given by Virgil of the re- 
pofe and happinefs of the country grati- 
fied him as a politician, when he perceived 
the efTedt which it produced on the vete- 
rans of his army. 

They 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 373 

They infenfibly became enamoured of 
the innocent and ufeful employments of 
agriculture, and waited with patience for a 
long courfe of years, before the Emperor 
had eftablimed a treafury to repay them 
for their military toils. 

In this inftance, poetry like mufic had 
" charms to footh the favage breaft ;" and 
while it conveyed the founded precepts of 
a ufeful art, was fubfervient to the moft 
important purpofes of the ftate. 

The poems of Homer, and the laws of 
the ep*^ which had been fo ably formed 
and promulgated by Ariftotle, were an ad- 
vantage to Virgil in his compofition of the 
iEneid, which few poets have had fo fa- 
vourable an opportunity to enjoy. 

The ^Eneid was written at the particular 
defire of Auguftus, who was ambitious of 
having the Julian family reprefented as 
lineal defendants of the Trojan iEneas. 
The character of the hero of the poem has 
been faid to be faulty on account of its 
coldnefs ; that he is never warmed or 
impaflioned, although perpetually in tears 
B b 3 or 



374 COMMENTARIES ON 

or at prayers ; that his defeition of Dido 
is neither gallant nor heroic ; that the de- 
fcription of the fports in the fifth book 
refrigerates the reader ; and that the laft fix 
books deferve to be generally condemned. 
The foundation of a flate which was to be 
the cradle of Rome, and the arrival of a 
ftranger announced by ancient oracles, who 
difputed with a prince for the daughter of 
a king to whom that prince was betrothed, 
are the fubjeds of them. The different 
people of Italy divide between the two 
rivals, and raife in the reader an expectation 
of action and of intereft. But what is the 
refult ? In place of thefe, we find a mo- 
narch who is not mafter of his houfe, and 
has not a will of his own, who, after having 
received the Trojans with cordiality, per- 
mits his queen and intended fon-in-law to 
carry on the war againft them, and ihuts 
himfelf up in his palace that he may take 
no part in it ; Lavinia too, a mere, mute, 
although the deadly contefi is on her ac- 
count ; and the queen after the defeat of 
the Latins commits fuicide, but excites no 
6 pity. 



mmammmim 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 375 

pity. Turnus is killed by iEneas, without 
producing the lead intereft in the vidnry 
of the one, or in the fall of the other. 
That the battles are an abridgement of 
thofe of Homer, with lefs diffufivenefs, but 
with lefs fire alfo, and refemble petty fkir- 
mifhes amidft barbarous colonies. That in 
the feventh book the poet carries us into a 
new world, and introduces us to perfonages 
abfolutely unknown: Ufens, Tarchon, and 
Mezentius are very different from Ajax, 
He&or, and Diomed ; and the antiquities 
of Italy, which flattery induced him to pe- 
netrate, are as obfcure as thofe of Greece 
are illuftrious. That the tranfient intereft 
we feel in favour of the vouno: Pallas the 
fon of Evander, of Laufus the fon.of Me- 
zentius, of Camilla the queen of the Vol-" 
fcians, cannot compenfate for the want of 
that general intereft which ought to move 
the whole machine of the epic. 

If pofterity, feverely juft, take cognifance 

of thefe defects; Rill fufficient merit remains 

in the iEneid to entitle its author to the 

appellation of the prince of Latin poets, 

B B 4 wmich 



376 COMMENTARIES ON 

which his contemporaries beftowed upon 
him. 

The fecond, fourth, and fixth books are 
univerfally regarded as the moft finifhed 
performances which epic poetry ever pro- 
duced in any nation* 

The filial piety and misfortunes of iEneas, 
after the cataftrophe of Troy, ftrongly in- 
tereft the reader in his fubfequent adven- 
tures. The picture of that city in flames 
can never be enough admired. 

The charader of Dido appertains entirely 
to the author, and has no model in all an- 
tiquity. 

The prophetic rage of the Cumsean Sibyl 
difplays the enthufiafm of the poet. 

The epifode of Nifus and Euryalus, that 
of the funeral of Pallas, and that of the 
buckler of iEneas, are the perfe&ion of the 
art of painting. 

Virgil is not more confpicuous for 
ftrength of defcription than propriety of 
fentiment, and when he takes a hint from 
the Grecian bard, he does not fail to im- 
prove upon it. 

One 



H 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 377 

One inftance may fuffice. 
In the fixth book of the Iliad, while 
the Greeks are making great daughter 
amongft the Trojans, He£tor, by the ad- 
vice of Helena, retires into the city to 
defire that his mother would offer up 
prayers to the goddefs Pallas, and promife 
her a noble facrifice if fhe would drive 
Diomed from the walls of Troy. Imme- 
diately before his return to the field of 
battle, He&or has his laft interview with An- 
dromache, whom he meets with his infant 
fon, Aftyanax. Here occurs one of the 
moft beautiful fcenes in the Iliad, where 
the hero takes the boy in his arms, and 
pours forth a prayer that he may one day 
be fuperior in fame to his father. In the 
fame manner iEneas, having armed himfelf 
for the decifive combat with Turnus, 
addrefles his fon Afcanius in a beautiful 
fpeech, which, while it is expreffive of the 
ftrongeft paternal affection, contains a 
noble and emphatic admonition fuitable to 
a youth who had nearly attained the period 
of manhood. 

He 



378 COMMENTARIES ON 

He certainly owed much of his excel- 
lence to the wonderful powers of Homer. 
His fufceptible imagination was captivated 
by amiable traits of the Odyfley, and 
warmed by the fire of the Iliad. Impro- 
ving the characters of the gods, he fuftains 
their dignity with fo uniform a luftre that 
they feem truly divine. 

Mr. Gibbon obferves, " that the more we 
know antiquity, the more we admire the 
art of this poet. His fubje£l was narrow. 
The flight of a band of exiles, the com* 
bat of fome villagers, the eftablifhment 
of an ill-fortified town ; thefe are the tra- 
vels, fo much vaunted, of the pious iEneas. 
But the poet has ennobled them, and he 
well knew by ennobling them how to ren- 
der them the more interefting. He em- 
bellifhed the manners of the heroic ages, 
but he embellifhed without difguifing 
them. Father Latinus and the feditious 
Turnus are transformed into powerful 
monarchs. All Italy feared for its li- 
berty. iEneas triumphs over men and 
gods. 

He 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 379 

li He never feems more matter of his art, 
than when defcended to the fhades below 
with his hero : his imagination appears 
to be enfranchifed : Romulus and Bru- 
tus, Scipio and Caefar, mew themfelves 
there fuch as Rome admired or feared 
them." 

It adds much to the celebrity of Homer, 
that he wrote in an age when the intellect 
was not generally improved by cultivation, 
and that he was indebted for his inex- 
hauftible refources to the capacity of his 
own mind. 

Virgil, on the contrary, lived in a period 
when literature had attained to a high ftate 
of improvement. Perhaps Homer lived 
and died in a ftate of poverty ; Virgil was 
' enabled by the affluence of his circum- 
ftances to allot twelve years to the com- 
pofition of his iEneid, which even at his 
death was unfinifhed, and, by a pious ne- 
glect of the dying injunctions of its author, 
refcued from the deftru&ion to which he 
deftined it. The wifh of the poet for the 
deftruction of his work probably arofe 
from his perceiving it to want uniformity 

and 



380 COMMENTARIES ON 

and unity. Had he lived, he would either 
have conneded or obliterated the detached 
parts of the latter books. 

A remarkable circumftance refpedingthe 
character of Virgil as a poet is the equable 
perfection of his ftyle. It is at once the 
delight and the defpair of all who efteem 
and cultivate Latin poetry. 

Where is the fcholar, mature in years 
and judgment, who does not admire the 
colouring and the variety of his pidures, 
and that unvaried harmony, which does not 
only play upon the ear but penetrates to 
the foul ? If he do not equal Homer in in- 
vention or in the richnefs of imagination 
in the aggregate, it has by fome been con- 
tended that he furpaffes him in the fplen- 
dour of certain pafiages, in corrednefs, and 
in tafle. 

In the perufal of this fine poem, there is 
no part which ftrikes the reader more for- 
cibly than the defcent of jEneas to the 
fhades below ; and the effed it produces on 
the mind would be much lefs powerful, if 
we were to affent to the hypothefis of a very 
learned critic, -Dr. Warburton, that it is 

only 



mam 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 381 

only a figurative defcription of the initia- 
tion into the Eleufmian myfteries. 

Every one of the circumftances of the 
defcent convinces Mr. Gibbon, that Virgil 
defcribes a real not a mimic world ; and 
that the fcene lay in the infernal regions, 
and not in the temple of Ceres. The An- 
gularity of the Cumean fhores, the lake 
Avernus, the black woods which furround- 
ed it when Virgil came to Naples, were 
fuited to gratify the fuperftition of the 
people. It was generally believed that this 
dreadful flood was the entrance of Hell, 
and an oracle was eftablifhed on its banks, 
which pretended by magic rites to call up 
the departed fpirits. The converfation 
between iEneas and the prieftefs may con- 
vince us that this was. a defcent to the 
fhades, and not an initiation. " Facilis 
defcenfus Averni" &c. 

That every ftep may lead us to the grave 
is a truth, but the myfteries were open 
only a few days in the year. The defcent 
of the myfteries was laborious and dan- 
gerous ; the return to light eafy and 
1 certain; 



382 COMMENTARIES Otf 

certain ; but in real death this order is in- 
verted. If we confider the awful fcene as 
a mimic mow exhibited in the temple of 
Ceres by the contrivance of the prieft or 
the legiflator, all that was terrible or pa- 
thetic difappears at once • the melancholy 
Palinurus, the wretched Deiphobus, the 
indignant Dido, and the venerable An- 
chifes, — " tenuemjine viribus umbram" 

The ftridures of that able critic Mr. 
Gibbon, on the fanciful and ingenious pofi- 
tion of the bifhop contained in his mifcel- 
laneous tracts, are worthy the attention of 
every fcholar; and there will probably be 
few readers whom he does not convince, 
that the opinion which is oppofite to his 
own would deprive the Mantuaa bard of a 
large portion of his deferved praife, as it 
would tend to make the fpirit of one of the 
fineft parts of the iEneid entirely evaporate 
in lifelefs allegory. 

Virgil is faid to have received two thou- 
fand pounds from Odavia, the fitter of the 
emperor, for the incomparable verfes in 
which he introduces the name of her fon 

Marcellus, 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 383 

Marcellus, whom me had lately loft. If 
this were the conduct of a courtier, how 
untrue is he to himfelf when he reprefents 
his hero affifting the Etrufcans to punifh 
their former tyrant Mezentius : Mr. Gib- 
bon thinks that " fuch opinions, puhlifhed 
by one who has been efteemed the creature 
of Auguftus, {hew that, though the republic 
was fubverted, the minds of the Romans 
were ftill republican." He is alfo of opi- 
nion that, had this part of the work been 
recited before the court, the reward given 
him for his former compliments to the 
reigning family would have been with- 
holden. 

In every point of view Virgil appears to 
advantage as a writer ; it is undeniable, 
that he does not merely recite the labours 
of nifties or an uninterefting ftory of tra- 
vels, but is a new Orpheus, whofe lyre 
induces favages to depofe their ferocity, 
and whofe hero unites them by the ties of 
manners and of laws. 

jEneas is the minifter of celeftial ven- 
geance, the protector of oppreffed nations, 

who 



384 COMMENTARIES ON 

who launches thunder on the head of the 
guilty tyrant, but is foftened by the unfor- 
tunate victim of his fury, the young and 
pious Laufus, worthy of a better father and 
a more propitious deftiny. 

Virgil determined to corre£t his poem, 
which he polifhed with a fcrupulous and 
painful accuracy at Athens, the renowned 
feat of eloquence and philofophy. In the 
delightful gardens of Epicurus, he con- 
ceived that he fhould have full leifure to 
complete an immortal work, but the arrival 
of Auguftus from the eaft fruftrated his 
defign; and on his return to Rome with his 
imperial patron, he was feized with ficknefs 
at Megara, and expired at Brundufiutn in 
the fifty-fecond year of his age. The place 
of his education he defired to be the place 
of his interment ; and his tomb ftill exifts 
within two miles of Naples near the road 
to Puteoli. 

He is faid to have written an infcription 
for his monument, which in two fimple 
lines tells the place of his nativity and his 
burial, together with the fubjeft of his 

poems. 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 385 

poems. But the verfes are fo unworthy of 
his mufe that they probably are fpurious. 

His fortune he divided between the em- 
peror and his minifter, and his friends 
Varius, Plotius, and Tucca. Thefe be- 
quefts, the unfufpicious teftimonies of gra- 
titude and friendfhip, evince the goodnefs 
of his heart ; and the proofs which pofte- 
rity have received of the excellence of his 
underftanding, and the correclnefs of his 
tafte, will be acknowledged by them as 
long as learning fhall be hallowed, and 
fuperior talents regarded with admiration. 

OVID. 

Publius Ovidius Nafo was defcended 
from an Equeftrian family, and born at 
Sulmo about forty-two years before the 
Chriftian sera. No expence was fpared to 
render his education complete. He acquired 
the firft rudiments of it at Rome, and when 
he was qualified to afluroe the manly gown, 
Athens numbered him amongft her illus- 
trious fcholars. The high reputation ac- 
quired by the great orators of his time 

C C was 



386 COMMENTARIES OK 

was a ftrong inducement with his father to 
deftine him for the profeffion of the law ; 
but nature, which in a few inftances, and 
probably in a very few, gives an irrefiftible 
bias to the mind, reverfed the deftiny. 
Like Pope, he feems to have been born a 
poet, and his own declaration to this effect 
may be tranflated by the well-known line 
of the Britifh bard : 

eC I lifped in numbers, for the numbers came." 

He could boafl that all the literati of 
that enlightened age were his friends, and, 
for a while, that the emperor was his mu- 
nificent patron : but a fatal cloud hung 
over his head ; he was fuddenly difgraced 
at court, and baniihed for life to Tomos, 
the capital of the lower Msefia. The 
nature of his offence ftill remains a myf- 
tery ; the pretence was that his verfes tend- 
ed to corrupt the morals of the Roman 
youth. 

The fentence, which was paffed by Au- 
guftus, Tiberius confirmed j and the plain- 
tive 



Classical learning, 387 

tive tone of many of his compofitions is 
to be referred to the habitual melancholy 
which attended his exile. He fcarcely 
furvived it eight years, and was interred at 
Tomos before he had attained the fixtieth 
year of his age. 

His Metamorphofes, the firft amufement 
bf our juvenile years, comprifed in fifteen 
books, is one of the handfomeft prefents 
which antiquity has made to us. Every 
thing in this work is attra&ive to the 
youthful mind, from the feparation of the 
elements which are in the place of Chaos, 
to the fplendid apotheofis of the Emperor 
Auguftus. It is impofiible to admire too 
much the flexibility of his imagination and 
of his ftyle in taking fucceffively every 
tone, clofely adapting himfelf to the nature 
of his fubjecT:, and by his art diverfifying 
the cataftrophe, of which the foundation is 
always the fame, namely, a tranfmutation of 
fofm. How admirable is the variety of 
his colours, always well fuited to the dif- 
ferent pidures which he draws ! His ex- 
preffions are fometimes exalted to fublimity, 

c c 2 fometimes 



388 COMMENTARIES ON 

fometimes fimple even to familiarity; now 
horrible and terrific, now tender, gay* 
fmiling, and fweet. He raifes, foftens, af- 
frights the mind, as he reprefents the palace 
of the fun, the plaints of love, the fury of 
jealoufy, and the terrors of vice. He de- 
fcribes with equal eafe and accuracy com- 
bats as amufements, heroes as fhepherds, 
the cave of Envy as the cottage of Phile- 
mon. Every reader is charmed with the 
delightful poem of Pyramus and Thifbe. 
Its beauties are ever pleafing becaufe they 
are natural, and the cataftrophe of the un- 
fortunate lovers fails not to excite univerfal 
fympathy ; a tale fo haplefs in ftrains fo 
delightful was furely never told ! If there 
be any reader whom the perufal of this 
incomparable poem does not affect, he is 
neither to be envied for the vivacity of his 
feelings, nor for the foundnefs of his judg- 
ment. 

Mythology furnifhed her richeft ftores 

to Ovid, an unrivalled advantage which 

was pofleffed 'by the ancients. It added 

the brighteft plumes to pagan writers, and 

9 enabled 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 389 

enabled them to foar to empyrean heights 
on the wings of fuperftition. But a purer 
religion, and a more refined tafte, have 
reftrained the flight of modern bards ; and 
reafon and truth, the beft guides of the 
orator and the hiftorian, have been found 
to damp the ardour of poetic enthufiafm. 

The ftyle of Ovid has been accufed of 
gaudinefs, but it is the exuberance of real 
rkhnefs; for his ornaments are not produ- 
ced by labour nor by effort. Spirit, gaiety, 
and facility, three qualities which never 
abandon him, conceal occafional negligence 
and trifling ; and it may more truly be faid 
of him than of Seneca, that he is " graced 
by defect," and pleafes even by his faults. 

His three books of amours, the pro- 
duction of his youth, have all the frefh- 
nefs of the age when they were compofed. 
Though he has not the fenfibility, nor the 
elegance, nor the precifion of Tibullus, 
nor the paflion of Propertjus ; though he 
may be reproached with a frequent repeti- 
tion of the fan?' ideas, and fometimes with 
bad ta# it a crowd of ingenious 

c c 3 thoughts 



a 



390 COMMENTARIES GN 

thoughts and agreeable images do they 
contain ! Corinna was the feigned name 
of his miftrefs, and fome have believed that 
this |Corinna was no other than Julia the 
daughter of Auguftus. What pathos i$ 
there in his complaints, what protections 
and what oaths ! 

The next piece, which probably was 
fent with the other, is addreffed to the 
chambermaid of whom Corinna was juftly 
jealous : he accufes her of having given 
occafion to the fufpicion of her miftrefs ; 
he reproaches her with blufhing like a 
child while he gazes at her ; he recals to 
her memory with what fang-froid he 
knows how to lie, with what intrepidity 
he perjures himfelf when under the necef- 
fity of producing a juftification, and finifhe$ 
by requefting a meeting with her. In thelc 
poems he difplays his real character. When 
he promifes his miftrefs to be conftant, he 
does not mean to deceive her, but is him- 
felf deceived. He is a general lover, and 
his infidelities are as numerous as the ob- 
jects of his paffion. But |t V * ".rnufing; 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 39? 

paflage of the work is where he complains 
with an apparent ferioufnefs of his irrefifti- 
ble propenfity to love. 

The Art of Love is another well known 
production of this author. In the firft 
book he treats of the choice of a miftrefs, 
in the fecond the means of pleafing and at- 
taching her. Ovid, fo ardent in his amours, 
is cold and erroneous in his theory. It is 
lefs difficult to fucceed in detached pieces 
than in a regular poem, where the plan 
muft be preferved from the beginning to 
the end, and where the fpirit ought to be 
fuftained throughout. 

In the firit book, a thoufand verfes are 
fpent in teaching his difciples how to fearch 
for a miftiefs. The heart immediately 
replies, that flie is found without a fearch, 
and that fuch an arrangement was never 
made but in the head of a poet. Ovid 
fends them into public places, temples, 
ipe&acles, the town, the country, the baths, 
to find fome one to whom they may ex- 
prefs their partiality. She will not fall 
from the clouds, he fays; you muft feekfor 
c c 4 v her. 



39 2 COMMENTARIES ON 

her. Many trifling circum fiances are in- 
troduced, and feveral infipid epifodes un- 
worthy of a didadic poem. The rape of 
the Sabines, and the fable of Pafiphae, are 
no very decent examples in proof of the 
affection of the female fex. The ferious 
queftion which he agitates, about being at 
once the lover of the chambermaid and her 
miftrefs, (hews that his precepts are in con- 
formity with his example. As 3 poetical 
fally which evaporates in words, fuch opi- 
nions may be excufed ; but to reduce them, 
into pradical dodtrines, is to infult the 
moral fenfe of decency and decorum. 
Upon the whole, this part of the work is 
but a meafured warbling, and djii'coyers the 
facility of faying nothing in feeble and 
negligent verfes. 

The fecond canto begins with a long 
epifode on the adventure of Daedalus and 
Icarus, as ill-drawn as thofe which precede 
it. There is here a queftion about the 
art of pleafing, in which it rauft be con* 
fefled that Ovid does not appear in his 
novitiate. Then follows an epifode of 

Venus 



CLASSICAL LEARNING* 393 

Venus furprifed with the god Mars, the 
only one which is to the point, but its 
beauties are fullied by the objectionable 
nature of the fubjed. 

The third book of the Art of Loveispro- 
fefledly written for the inftrucYion of the 
fair fex, of whom he wifhes to afk pardon 
for his infidelities. He teaches them the 
whole art of deception ; obferves that they 
are lefs deceitful than men ; and adds, that 
as they give us arms againft themfelves, it 
is but juft to furnifh them with weapons 
pf defence ; that he gives this advice by 
the Grder of Venus herfelf. He advifes 
them about their drefs, exhaufts the whole 
fcience of the toilet, prefcribes bounds to 
their laughter in fubfervience to the ftate 
of their teeth, and is remarkably great and 
deep in trifles. It is, however, impoflible 
not to render homage to the fertile variety 
of a writer who applies himfelf to fo many 
kinds of writing with confiderable fuccefs. 
Jiis Fafti originally confifted of twelve 
books, of which only half the number are 
in our pofleffion. They contain a beautiful 

defcriptioa 



394 COMMENTARIES ON 

defcription of the ceremonial tranfa&ions 
of the Romans : and the lofs of the other 
books has been very generally lamented by 
fcholars. 

t The moft pleafing paflages have been 
faid to be the origin of facrifices, the ad- 
venture of Lucretia, the feftival of Anna 
Perenna, the origin of the name of May, 
and the difpute of the "goddefles for that of 
June. 

His Heroics are a fort of amorous 
epiftles, twenty-one in number ; they have 
a high degree of poetical enthufiafm, but 
are indecorous in the general turn of the 
thought, and grow tirefome from the 
identity of the fubje£t. 

Whether it be Penelope to Ulyffes, Dido 
to -Eneas, Sappho to Phaon, it is the fame 
as when Phillis complains of Demophon, 
and other miftreffes of their inconftant 
lovers. Plaints, reproaches, and regrets are 
expreffed in very elegant language, but 
the ear grows weary of the repetition of 
fuch whining fentiments as have no power 
to reach and intereft the heart. 

His 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. J()jf 

His Triftia, compofed during his exile, 
prove that, though his yivacity was gone, 
Jie retained his genius for poetry. la 
melancholy but harmonious ftrains he be- 
wails his unhappy fituation, and depre- 
cates the rage of the inexorable Auguftus, 
His elegies are of a fimilar defcription, and 
that on the death of Tibullus will be 
efteemed as long as the works of both the 
^authors fhall be read. 

His tragedy of Medea, of which only 
fragments remain, is mentioned by Quin- 
tilian as a proof of what his genius could 
have effected had it been reftrained within 
$he bounds of decorum. 

Upon the whole, his praife is that of ta«? 
lents, learning, and elegance ; his defects, 
indecency of expreffion, forced conceits, 
and a profufion of ornament. 

Such is the poetical character of Ovid in 
the abftract ; but when placed in contraft 
with Virgil, Horace, and Tibullus, thefe 
faults are fo confpicuous as to mark the 
firft decline of genuine tafte amongft the 

Romans, 

UJCAN. 



396 COMMENTARIES Otf 

LUCJN. 

M. Annseus Lucanus was a Spaniard, a 
native of Corduba, and born before the 
middle of the firft century. 

If it be believed that his talents firft 
recommended him to the notice of the 
Emperor Nero, it was probably his flattery 
of him that facilitated his admiflion to 
office. Before the time limited by law, he 
was appointed augur and quacftpr. Buoyed 
up by this unprecedented fuccefs, and for- 
getting that tyrants can no more tolerate a 
fuperior in intelle&ual attainments than in 
power, he engaged in a literary conteft with 
his patron. 

Nero wrote a poem on the fubje<3 of 
Niobe, Lucan upon that of Orpheus, and 
his vi&ory over his imperial mafter was 
the caufe of his ruin. Perceiving himfelf 
thedeftinedvidtim of refentment, he weakly 
refolved to furnifh an apology for It, and 
joined in a hopelefs confpiracy with Pifo, a 
man whofe virtues attracted the good, and 

whofe 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 397 

whofe pliant temper rendered him dear to 
the voluptuous. 

After the defeat of Pifo, which termina- 
ted in his filicide, Lucan had no favour 
allowed to him but the choice of his 
death. His veins were opened in a warm 
bath, and he met his fate with philofophi- 
cal intrepidity, at the early period of twen- 
ty-fix years, when health and life are in 
their meridian. 

The only relic of his literary reputation 
is contained in a work written on a fubjefl: 
better adapted for an epic poem than mod 
others, and denominated Pharfalia, from 
the battle which terminated the deadly con- 
teft between Csefar and Pompey. 

By fome critics Lucan has been faid to 
poffefs beauties peculiar to himfelf, and of 
aconfummate luftre ; that he was verfed in 
all the learning of his age, and fecond to 
none in eloquence; that his choice of 
words is happy, and his expreflion bold and 
animated ; that there is a dignified tone of 
gravity and authority in his poem ; that 
his ftrength is equalled by his imagination, 

for 



ggfS COMMENTARIES OH 

for that the natural warmth arid impetno- 
fity of his temper ftamp an interesting 
ehai after on a great part of his work; 
that he is very fortunate in affecting and 
engaging the paffions; that his defcriptions 
are fublime images of the things they re- 
prefent ; that where he is coricife he is happi- 
ly fententious ; where diffufe, elegant to a 
great degree. 

A clofer and more accurate perufal of 
Lucanwill probably not juftify fo fplendid 
an encomium. His poem fo often deviates 
from the dignity of the epic, that it may 
rather be confidered as a hiftory in verfe* 
written certainly with confiderable talent* 
It is owing to partial traits of force and 
grandeur rather than of general excel- 
lence, that it has been faved from obli* 
vion. 

While we read Virgil in continuation* 
it is difficult to read a fingle book of Lu> 
can. 

With much fpirit, and even with much 
genius, it is poffible that an author may be 
deficient in that art of writing, which has 

6 it» 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 399 

its origin in a natural tafte, and is brought 
to maturity by labour and by time. Why 
is Lucan fo little efteemed, notwithftanding 
the praife wich is generally, and therefore 
juftly, given to certain parts of the Pharfalia ? 
It is that his imagination, which is always 
in fearch of the fublime, is often miftaken in 
the choice. It is, that it is wholly unac- 
companied by that found judgment which 
prevents exaggeration in the painting, in- 
flation in the ideas, languor and fuperfluity 
in the details. 

It has been faid of Lucan, that " he is 
like the foldier in the ninth br,ok of his 
Pharfalia, who in paffing the fandy defarts 
of Africa was bitten by a ferpent, and 
fwslled. fo much as to be loft in the tu- 
mours of his own body." 

When to this it is added, that his verfes 
are all turned in the fame mould, he may 
be faid to be equally monotonous to the 
ear and to the understanding. His beau- 
ties are fo furrounded and inclofed by his 
faults, that the reader denies himfelf the 
pain of fearching for the one on account of 

the 



400 COMMENTARIES ON 

the difguft which is excited by the other. 
This afiertion may be corroborated by our 
recurring to a very remarkable fentence, 
when Csefar, on his paflage from Epirus 
to Italy, is affailed by a tempeft, and pro- 
nounces this famous fentence, addreffed to 
the trembling pilot : u Why are you 
afraid ; you carry Cazfar and his for- 
tune?" 

The fentiment is fo truly grand and ele- 
vated, that an accumulation of words can 
only ferve to weaken it. The poet, on 
this fine occafion for fublimity, by extrava- 
gant hyperboles, and an intolerable pro- 
lixity of detail, deftroys the whole effecT; 
of the fentence, and difgufls every reader 
of tafte and feeling. He defcribes a ridi- 
culous combat of the winds, coldly and 
unfeafonably perfonified in gigantic bom- 
baft, which is oppofite both to reafon and 
to truth. What can be more out of place 
than that verbofe boafting of Csefar, which 
is fubftituted for the noble expreflion that 
hiftory makes him pronounce ? 



To 



classical learning: 401 

To {hake heaven and earth, to raife all 
the feas of the globe, to make nature fear- 
ful of falling into chaos, and all this on 
account of a boat beaten about on the little 
fea of Epirus, is a defcription abfolutely 
falfe in nature, and an unpardonable abufe 
of figurative language. The tedious re- 
lation compels us to forget Csefar, and it is 
Csefar who fhould exclufively occupy our 
attention. When the fleet of iEneas 
is aflailed by a tetnpeft, twelve verfes 
is fufficient for Virgil to give the mod 
lively and ftriking account of it. 

A ftorm defcribed with the fame con- 
cifenefs, energy, and truth, had made every 
reader tremble for the fate of a great man 
on the point of feeing one moment of im- 
prudence annihilate the higheft deftinies. 
Perhaps the pidure had been more agree- 
able, if Lucan had employed a fpecies of 
fi&ion of which he was always too fparing; 
if he had reprefented Olympus attentive 
and divided ; the gods obferving whether 
the foul of Casfar could fuftain a moment 
of danger and of trial, uncertain if the 
D D waver, 



402 - COMMENTARIES ON 

waves would not ingulf the threatened 
mafter of the world, and if Neptune 
would not efface from the book of fate 
the day of Pharfalia, and the flavery of 
Rome. 

As no fubjecl: can be conceived more 
capable of elevating the mind, it would 
have permitted fiction without injuring the 
veracitv of hiftory. Could not the gods 
and the Romans have acted together in 
the fame fcene, and been worthy one of 
the other ? Could not deftiny have been 
introduced where the fate of the world 
was concerned ? 

The phantom of his country in tears, 
which appeared to Caefar on the banks of 
the Rubicon; this fine fi&ion, unhappily 
the oriy one found in the poem, fufficiently 
pre vet- what affiftance he could have drawn 
from fable. 

Lucan has, however, certain pre-emi- 
nent beauties in his defcription of charac- 
ters. Such is the funeral eulogy of Pompey, 
pronounced by Cato : fuch is the portrait 
of Cato himfelf, and the account of his 

marriage 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 403 

marriage with Marcia ; his march amongft 
the Africans; and his fine anfwer to the 
noble fpeech of Latinus upon the orac»e of 
Jupiter Amnion. But nothing can exceed 
the portraits of Csefar and Pompey, put in 
opposition in the firft book, which are 
written with incomparable tafte. The 
merit exhibited in thefe portions of the 
work are great, and has rendered him 
worthy the regard of pofterity. 

Quintilian fays that Lucan is to be ranked 
amongft orators rather than poets. This 
eulogium on his fpeeches is in a great 
degree juft; for though they are not 
wholly exempt from that declamation 
which injures his ftyle, yet they poffefs 
real grandeur, and excite fympathetic emo- 
tion. 

His fubjecT: prefents him with many 
circumftances which are fufceptible of the 
pathetic, but the ftiffnefs of his ftyle re- 
fufes to admit it. The feparation of 
Pompey and Cornelia, when he fends her 
into the Ifle of Lefbos, and the difcourfe 
which accompanies their adieu, are almoft 
DD2 the 



4^4 COMMENfAlUfcS OM 

the only inftances in which the poet makeS 
the epic approach for a moment to drama- 
tic intereft. His chara&er of C as far, at 
firft ib ably drawn, is disfigured as the 
poem proceeds ; which cannot be excufed 
by his hatred to the oppreffof of liberty* 
A republican could not pardon Caefar for 
the foundation of an empire which Nero 
inherited; but he might have confined him* 
felf to deploring the perverted ufe of ex- 
traordinary talents, which he turned 
againft his country, after having exerted 
them in its defence. Had he fent back 
his army before he paffed the Rubicon, he 
would certainly have been loft. The hatred 
of his enemies affifted the fortune which 
led him on. The blind partiality of the 
fenate in favour of Pompey, the weaknef3 
of Csefar in fupporting the idol whom he 
had raifed, the long hatred of the auftere 
Cato againft the voluptuous Csefar,. brought 
into action the beft troops of the republic, 
whofe every proceeding was an error. 
The fenate inconfiftently confented to flat- 
ter the pride of Pompey, who wifbed td 

be 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 405 

be the firft in the ftate, while they con- 
demned the arrogance of Csefar, who re- 
fufed to be the fecond. This could only 
end in giving a mafter to Rome. 

The preference manifefted by the fena- 
tors in favour of Pompey, arofe, probably, 
from their political diflike to a leader of the 
people. The remembrance of the quarrels 
between Marius and Sylla ought to have 
animated them in a defire for liberty, and 
infpired them with a hatred to tyrants. 

All the propofals made by Caefar before 
he paffed the Rubicon had very plaufible 
pretences : to eftablifh equality, and to 
fecure himfelf againft his enemies. It is 
not always that political men are ferious in 
overtures of accommodation. Csefar pro- 
bably wifhed his propofals to be refufed, 
and might fecretly have formed his deter- 
mination to reign ; but he offered to lay 
down his arms if they would confer 
upon him the confulfhip and a triumph. 
Both he had deferved, and the poft was 
without queftion neceffary for his fecu- 

D V 3 The 



406 > COMMENTARIES ON 

The jealoufy of Pompey, and the pufilla- 
nimity of the fenate, concurred in refufing 
his reafonable demands : and the important 
refult is known to every one in the lead 
acquainted with the Roman ftory. 

The vidory of Dyrrachium encouraged 
Pompey to fight the Fatal battle of Phar- 
faiia. Had he pufhed his victory over the 
veteran legions, Casfar allowed that he 
would have been undone ; but when in 
the laft adion he quitted the heights, and 
defcended into the plain to engage his ad- 
verfary, this one miitake forfeited forty 
years of glory. 

Lucan is unjuft to the perfonal character 
of Caefar. Hiftory has recorded his cle- 
mency to the Romans who furrendered to 
him ; but the poet reprefents him as a fe- 
rocious and fanguinary tyrant. Lucan 
perpetually calls for arms againit defpotifm, 
and implores civil war, as being far pre*- 
ferable to flavery. Poetry is in general 
lefs fearful of arbitrary power than elo- 
quence. Its voice is ufually more confe- 
crated to pleafure than to inftrudion; to 

illufion 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 407 

illufion than to truth ; and its charms may- 
even have attra&ions for defpots who have 
tafte. Virgil has prudently abftained from 
the praifes of liberty, and fatal was the effect 
of the temerity of Lucan. 

Let us not, however, imagine that the 
flavery of Rome gave the final blow to 
poetry as it did to eloquence. Its decline 
was the inevitable confequence of its ma- 
turity. A corruption of genuine tafte and 
of found principles was the neceffary effect 
of the inquietude and the feeblenefs of the 
human mind,, which is not willing to reft 
contented with what is good, but deviates 
into boundlefs error, from a fruitlefs fearch 
aftervifionary p erfecnon. 

The reign of good emperors, from Nerva 
to the Antonines, in fome degree revived 
the fpirit of poetry ; and fome few epic 
writers give a certain degree of celebrity to 
their age. 

C. Silius Italicus was a lawyer of 
great eminence, who voluntarily retired from 
his lucrative profeffion, to pay his adora- 
tion at the fhrine o\ rhe Mufes. 

D D 4 He 



408 COMMENTARIES ON 

He was confiil in the fixty-eighth year 
of the firft century, but afterwards lived in 
privacy, and compofed a Poem, which has 
reached pofterity, on thefecorid Punic yvar, 
in feventeen hpoks. In this work, he fcru- 
puloufly purfues the order and the detail 
of fadts from the fiege of Saguntum to the 
defeat of Hannibal, and the fubmiffion of 
Carthage. He exhibits Juno with her in- 
veterate hatred againft the defendants of 
JEneas, and her ancient love for the rival 
of Rome. 

The ftyle of this writer is pure, but fo 
feeble as never to rife to excellence. He 
has but few verfes worthy to be retained 
in the memory, and his beft fentiments 
are but tranferipts from Livy. 

It Has been obferved, that " his fubjedt 
was well chofen, and that he poffefled a 
confiderable fhare of learning, and much 
knowledge of the human heart. He has 
alfo fhewn much judgment in the plan and 
conduct of his work, but he wanted power 
for the execution." The fire of poetry 
evaporates with the advance of life, and 

the 



^mam^mm^^^mm 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 409 

the old man could not rekindle the Pro- 
methean heat which is neceffary to an epic 
poem. 

If he creeps on the ground, he is free 
from affectation, or obfcurity, or bombaft ; 
and it has been well obferved, that the 
poet, who annually facrifice* at the tomb 
cf Virgil, would have attained a higher re- 
putation could he have imbibed a portion of 
the fpirit which belonged to his idol. 

To avert the evils of a lingering difeafe, 
he ftarved himfelf in the feventy-fifth year 
of his age ; and his memory is regarded 
with that refpedt which is beflowed on 
niediocrity of talents. 

VALERIUS FLA CCUS, 

In the reign of Vefpafian flourifhed 
Valerius Flaccus, who has left nearly eight 
books of a poem, on the fubject of the 
Argonauts. His early death prevented 
his finifhing a work, which has by fome 
critics been confidered as next to the 
iEneid of Virgil. As a writer, he has more 
animation than Silius, more correctnefs 

than 



4IO COMMENTARIES ON 

than Statins, and lefs bombaft than Lucan. 
He has been blamed for having almoft 
tranflated the Argonautics of Apollonius 
Rhodius ; wherever he has quitted his ori- 
ginal, he difplays a genius fuperior to 
the Greek ; and it is to be lamented, that 
he who could have invented a plan, would 
condefcend to imitate an inferior. The 
ruggednefs of fome of his verfes is com- 
penfated by the harmony of others. His 
compofition probably wanted only revifion, 
to have polfelTed an equal (hare of merit, and 
to have conferred on its author a higher 
place amidft the poets of Rome. 

STATIUS. 

Near the termination of the firft century, 
and in the reign of Domitian, Papinius 
Statius was born at Naples. Time, which 
has devoured many of the ineftimble works 
_of the Greek tragedians and the Roman 
hiftorians, has been more favourable than 
juft to the works of this author. His 
Thebaid, in twelve books, is on the fubjecT: 

of 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 4II 

of the quarrel between Eteocles and Poly- 
nices, which terminated in the murder of 
each other. 

It is well known that they were the 
fruit of the unhappv m?.rriage of CEdipus 
With his mother Jobafta; and that it was 
agreed between them', that, after the death 
of their father, each thou: J reign alter- 
nately for a year. That Eteocles, at the 
expiration of that period, refufed to refign 
the empire to his brother. That after 
much bloodihed between the fupporters of 
each party, it was agreed that they fhould 
decide the difpute by fmgle combat. In 
this they both fell; and fable tells that their 
allies feparated themfelves on the burning 
pile as if incapable of reconciliation. Thefe 
wicked men thus accomplished by their 
crimes that malediction of their father 
which they merited. 

Statius wrote alfo another epic poem 
called the Achilleid ; of which two books 
are extant, but which were unfinished at 
his death. It is better written than the 
Thebai'd, and his ddcription of the beha- 
viour 



412 COMMENTARIES ON 

viour of Achilles at the feaft made by Ly- 
comedes for the Grecian ambaffadors has 
been generally admired. Four books of 
poems, under the denomination of Sylvse, 
have likewife defcended to pofterity ; they 
are fometimes natural, elegant and eafy, 
but they are in general debafed by florid 
language, and by a falfe glare. 

Through a long courfe of ages of igno- 
rance, chance has preferved fome inferior 
productions from that duft which ftill 
covers, and perhaps will eternally cover, 
many of the moft valuable works of antir 
quity. On account of his inflated ftyle, 
and his bad tafte, it is more painful to read 
Statins than Silius Italicus, though he cer- 
tainly has more poetical fancy, and though, 
in the midft of his trifles, there are fome 
traits of brilliancy. The beft part of the 
Theba'id is the combat between the two 
brothers, and the other parts of the eleventh 
book. This poet enjoy ed 1 during his lift, 
a great reputation. The art of writing 
verfes is faid to have been an heir-loom in 
his family ; that he received it from his 

father. 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 413 

father, and livdd to fee his fon receive the 
laurel crown at the Alban games, as he had 
done himfelf. 

Martial tells us, that the whole city was 
in motion to go and hear him wheri he re- 
peated his verfes, and that the recital of th£ 
Thebaid was a feftival for the Romans. 

But at that period, the public tafte was 
much depraved ; for, though he has many 
beautiful expreflions and ftrokes of genius, 
his ftyle is in general a tifTue of affe&ation 
and bombaft. 

The writings of Statius are at this day 
known only to a few men of letters, whofe 
curiofity renders them felicitous to be ac- 
quainted with all that the ancients have left 
them. 

At the conclufion of the Thebaid, the 
poet addrefles his Mufe, and defires her 
not to pretend an equality with the divine 
iEneid, but to follow at a refpe&ful dis- 
tance, and adore the footfteps of its author. 
His Mufe certainly obeyed him j but ftill 
he promifes himfelf immortality, and 
reckons much on the honor which pofterity 

will 



424 COMMENTARIES ON 

will render him. It would have been more 
wife in him to reft contented with the ap- 
plaufe of his own age, than to have appealed 
to future ones. - 

Bat he had not fuffieient perfpicuity to 
fee that he lived in the decline of learning, 
and his vanity prompted him to believe, 
that the fhout of ignorance was the trum- 
pet of fame. 



CLASSICAL LEARNING* 415 



SECTION XIV. 

Latin Elegy. Ovid, — Catullus. — Tibullus. — Propertius. 

I he Romans, in elegy and love-verfes, 
were the imitators of the Greeks; but the 
originals are unfortunately loft, while the 
imitations remain. 

We know very little of the elegies of 
Callimachus, and nothing of thofe of Phi- 
letas and Mimnermus, but by the reputa- 
tion which they had amongft the ancients, 
and by the favourable teftimonies of the 
bed critics of antiquity. Although the 
word is of Greek derivation, and fignifies 
complaint or lamentation, it has not always 
been plaintive, but deftined fometimes to 
the celebration of the gods, fometimes to 
that of the return or the birth-day of a 
friend. It has been before mentioned, that 
the beft elegy extant is that of Ovid on the 
death of Tibullus \ but both happy and un- 
6 happy 



4i6 COMMENTARIES ON 

happy lovers have made it the vehicle of 
their fenfations* 

In this clafs of writers, Qui nt trs Vale- 
rius Catullus is diftinguifhed. He was 
born at Verona early in the century which 
preceded the nativity of our Saviour; he died 
in hisforty-fixth year, and numbered amongft 
his acquaintance and friends the moft cele- 
brated literary chara&ers of the age* 

It has been faid that he borrowed fo 
largely from Callimachus, as to render it 
fortunate for his fame that the works of 
the Grecian poet£ are now only fragments. 
The late invention of the art of printing, 
which we have fo much reafon to deplore, 
may have prevented the dete&ion of many 
plagiarifms of which we are not aware. 
Catullus fometimes profefledly tranflated 
from Callimachus. The tranflation of the 
Coma Berenice has been faid to retain all 
the fpirit and to convey all the beauties of 
the original poem. His epigrams have by 
fome been thought to poflefs particular ex- 
cellence, and to furpafs thofe of Martial, 
and every other writer of that inferior fpe- 
2 cies 






CLASSICAL LEARNING. 417 

cies of poetry. By others they have been 
confidered as unworthy of his talents ; and 
as a proof of the aflertion, it has been re- 
corded that Casfar took no other revenge 
on him for an attack upon himfelf than by 
inviting him to fupper. This argument, 
however, feems not to poffefs any confi- 
derable weight, fince the motive which 
actuated the inviter is at leaft problema- 
tical. 

The verfes on Lefbia's fparrow, and the 
epithalamium of TheKrs and Peleus, {hew 
that the genius of Catullus, which excelled 
in graceful fubje&s, could elevate itfelf to 
the fublime of paffion. The epifode of 
Ariadne abandoned by the ungrateful The- 
feus in the ifle of Naxos, is among the few 
pieces of the ancients in which not the 
lover but love itfelf is made to fpeak. The 
author of the iEneid has from this poem 
borrowed not only ideas and expreffions, 
but even entire verfes ; and Ariadne has 
been the handmaid who has decorated the 
Dido of Virgil. Such a writer would have 
reached the fummit of Parnaflus, had he 

E E been 



418 COMMENTARIES OH 

been endued with a fufficient fhare of pa- 
tience to ftruggle for fame by the rugged 
acclivities of labour. 

But Catullus was fond of pleafure and 
of travel, both which are hoftile to the 
leifure and the retirement fo neceflary to 
men of letters. 

On the marriage of his friend Manlius 
he wrote a charming poem, which is an 
inftance to prove that however common or 
trite the fubject, genius makes every thing 
appear comely and new. Catullus was 
born in poverty, but the generofity of 
friends exalted him to affluence. His writ- 
ings which have reached us are few ; but 
lefs than a hundred pages dictated by fuch 
talents, have ferved to render their author a 
refpe&able claffic. His compofitions, at 
once fimple but elegant, are the offspring of 
the moft luxuriant imagination; and the 
fuccefsful imitator of the Greek writers 
would have obtained a higher reputa- 
tion, had the delicacy of his expreffions 
always correfponded with the purity of his 



ltyie. 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 419 

TIBULLUS. 

Aulus Albius Tibullus was a Roman 
knight, the contemporary and friend of 
Ovid, who willingly refigned the toils of 
war for the indulgence of literary eafe and 
indolence. 

Poets are not always remarkable for 
prudence. Had he imitated the pliability 
of Virgil, his lands forfeited under the 
triumvirate might perhaps have been re- 
flored to him by Auguftus. He has left 
four books of elegies, which announce him 
as the poet of fentiment, and the prince of 
that fpecies of verfe. His ftyle is fo ele- 
gant, his tafte fo pure, and his compofition 
fo irreproachable as to render him fuperior 
to all his rivals. He has alfo a fecret 
charm of expreffion which tranflation can- 
not reach, but which can only be under- 
ftood by the heart. 

He had a particular tafte for thofe rural 

delights which fo well accord with the 

paffion of love. Tibullus fings of more 

E E 2 than 



420 COMMENTARIES ON 

than one miftrefs ; Delia is the firft objed 
of his affe&ion, and infpires the fweeteft of 
his fongs ; but Nemefis and Neaera replace 
her in their turns. He had the happy art 
of attaching thofe to whom he was himfelf 
attached ; the two former attended his 
funeral, and exhibited unequivocal teftimo- 
nies of genuine forrow : they were both 
courtezans ; but at Athens and at Rome 
there were fome of this defcription who 
held a diftinguifhed rank, not only by their 
underftanding, but by their fidelity to a 
fingle object. 

It has been faid, that " a gentle folem- 
nity, a pleafing languor, and an indulgence 
in melancholy, are the true and genuine 
fpirit of elegy ; complaint is almoft its 
natural language, and if love under what- 
ever circumflances commands its voice, it 
is becaufe love is the fofteft of all paflions, 
and is too often unhappy." 

If this be a true definition of elegy, 
Tibullus deferves the palm of unrivalled 
excellence. Though gentle, he is not dull ; 
though humble, he is not mean. The 

fympathy 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 421 

fympathy of the reader ever attends him ; 
and the labour of production was to him a 
new enjoyment, becaufe it was the delight- 
ful tafk of painting the fcenes through 
which he had paffed. He fpeaks to our 
fouls when he defcribes his own, and is 
almoft the only poet who has been able to 
arrive at fame by finging of his pleafures. 

PROPERTIUS. 

The third candidate for fame as a writer 
of elegies amongft the Romans was Sextus 
Amelius Propertius, defcended from an 
Equeftrian family, and refembling Virgil 
in being admitted to the favour of the em- 
peror, although his father had been the 
friend of Antony. 

Propertius was a man of confiderable 
learning, and in the four books of elegies 
which have reached pofterity, he has been 
blamed for fuch a perpetual ufe of mytho- 
logy, that his citations from fable are faid 
to refemble more the common-places of a 
poet than the addreffes of a lover. One 
E E 3 thing 



422 COMMENTARIES ON 

thing is remarkable in his works, that he 13 
the only writer of amatory vejrfes who has 
celebrated but one miftrefs. He often tells 
Cynthia, who was a Roman lady of di- 
ftinguifhed beauty, that {lie fhall ever be 
the object of his fongs, and he keeps his 
word with her. 

Not that his heart was as conftant as his 
Mufe ; for, like Ovid, he avows himfelf in 
pradice to be a general lover : he even 
confeffes to Cynthia, that he has fome 
partiality for Lycinna ; but fo little, fo very 
little, that it is not worth the mentioning. 

If we are to judge of Cynthia by the 
portrait which he draws of her, it muft be 
confeiTed that fhe does not appear to de^ 
ferve much fidelity. No woman furely 
had ever fo eager a difpofition to torment a 
lover, and no lover ever appeared fo un- 
happy, or fo much lamented his fate, as 
Properties. But his chara&er, as it refpe&s 
his attachment, is fometimes found in 
common life ; for after all the reproaches 
with which he loads his miftrefs for her 
pride, her cruelty, and caprice, he always 

concludes, 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 423 

concludes with an entire resignation to 
her will. He murmurs at the yoke, but 
ftill it is fo dear to him that he wifhes 
to fuftain it for ever. 

His confiant alternations of praife and of 
reproach fhew us that the different feelings 
of his mind were in complete fubfervience 
to the ficklenefs of her conduct. Some- 
times fhe is a goddefs, at other times far 
below humanity. Now he attributes to 
her all the frefhnefs of youth ; now he tells 
her fhe is already antiquated. After five 
years of impatient endurance of her tyranny 
he breaks his chains, and his adieus are 
imprecations in every poffible form. The 
reader doubts, and the lady probably 
doubted the fincerity of his difguft, for in- 
difference is never violent. ► 

This refolution, however, clofes the third 
book, but Cynthia re-appears in the fourth; 
and confident of her power, comes to 
fearch for her flave at a country houfe 
where he was at fupper with two of his 
rivals. Her fury terrifies his companions, 
who leave him to fettle the quarrel with- 

E E 4 OUt 



4H COMMENTARIES ON 

out their affi fiance. Cynthia having beaten 
him well, confents to pardon him only 
on thefe hard conditions : that he will 
never walk under Pompey's portico ; that 
he will not go into the country in an open 
carriage ; and that at the public fpeclacles, 
he will always keep his eyes fixed on the 
ground. To all this Propertius fubfcribes ; 
and the amorous flave only revenges him- 
felf by new and vain imprecations. 

The diftinguiming quality of his verfe 
is fpirit, and Ovid has well chara&erifed it 
when he talks of the fires of Propertius. 
" No man was ever fuch a lover ; he burns 
in every line ; his paflion is as earneft and 
vehment as that of Tibullus is foft and 
gentle. But he cannot be entitled to the 
prize which was contended for by the three 
writers of Roman elegy ; for his learning 
fometimes renders him abftrufe, and his ftyle 
is by no means devoid of affe elation." 

Forty years were an early but not a 
premature termination of a life fo harafied 
by the ferocity and abfurdities of an arbi- 
trary woman. 

The 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 425 

The verfes which defcribe thefe tumults 
of paflion have fufficient merit to gratify 
our curiofity; but as they produce no 
refpedt for the virtues of the imperious 
miftrefs, they excite no pity for the mif- 
foxtunes of the pufillanimous lover. 






642 COMMENTARIES OK 



SECTION XV, 
Martial. — Aufonius, — Claudia?, , 

-Martial was a Spaniard, and born at 
Bilbilis about thirty years after Chrift, 
As foon as he arrived at manhood he re- 
paired to Rome, By his talents and flat- 
tery he recommended himfelf to the Em- 
peror Domitian, After his death he fati- 
rized his benefactor ; and being difappoim> 
ed in his hope of gaining the favour of his 
fucceffor he returned to his native coun- 
try, and died there at the age of feventy-* 
five. 

He has left fourteen books of epigrams ; 
and fo prolific was his mufe, that fhe 
js faid to have produced no fewer than 
twelve hundred, three-fourths of which 
might well have been fupprefTed. 

They have come down to us in the beft 
order, as he himfelf arranged them ; and 

they 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 427 

they retain the dedications at the head of 
each book. If this be a fubj eel: of congratu- 
lation to the learned, it will certainly not 
confole them for the lofs of fo many of 
the works of Livy, Salluft, and Tacitus. 

Epigram is ftyled by Dryden the loweft 
fort of poetry ; and it has been faid that 
Martial, at the bottom of the hill, diverts 
himfelf with gathering flowers, and fol- 
lowing infects very prettily. If he made 
a new year's gift, he fent with it a diftich. 
If a friend died, he wrote an epitaph. If 
a ftatue was erected, he wrote an inferip- 
tion. If he wifhed to pleafe the great, his 
ftyle was turned to panegyric. 

The firft book is indeed entirely a pane- 
gyric on Domitian, againft whom it would 
be more agreeable to perufe a fatire. Then 
follow extravagant praifes on the wonderful 
fpeclacles which he exhibited to the people. 
This fhews what importance the Romans 
attached to this fpecies of magnificence, 
and at the fame time how difficult it was 
to flatter this matter paffion of the empe- 
ror. 






428 COMMENTARIES ON 

ror. Martial is often extremely reprehen- 
fible in the choice of his fubje£t, and gives 
fccpe to an imagination not reftrained by 
judgment or decorum. Sometimes he 
wearies the reader with the prolixity or 
ambiguity of his preambles. In giving 
praife and cenfure he appears to be go- 
verned more by prejudice or policy than 
by juftice and truth ; and he is more at- 
tentive to wit than to morals. But his 
compofition has extraordinary merit. It 
is in general both corredt and elegant; 
and his fancy is prolific of beautiful images. 
In attic wit he furpafles every other wri- 
ter, and is familiar with every kind of 
verfe. 

Pliny the younger obferves of him, that 
perhaps his writings may not obtain im- 
mortality, but that he wrote as if he was 
convinced that they deferve it. 

The opinion of critics on the fubjed 
of Roman poetry has been this — that from 
the firft Punic war to the time of Auguftus, 
that is, in the days of its youth, it was 

ftrong 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 429 

ftrong and nervous, but not beautiful ; in 
the Auguftan age it combined both, was 
manly and polite ; from the beginning of 
Nerva's reign to the end of Adrian's, taw- 
dry and feeble . 

It is a fufficient proof of the decline of 
learning, and of tafte in the latter period, 
when we are told that Virgil and Horace 
were dethroned from their legitimate feat 
of empire in the public opinion, and that 
Lucan and Perfius were the ufurpers, who 
feized the fceptre, and reigned without 
controul in their flead. 

AUSONIUS. 

Aufonius lived in the fourth century, and 
was preceptor to Gratian. By the intereft 
of his royal pupil he was advanced to the 
confulfhip. In ancient times the poet and 
the ftatefmen were frequently combined, 
but in modern ones the phenomenon would 
be very extraordinary. 

No one excels Aufonius in imagination 

or invention, in ftrength of language or 

8 in 



430 COMMENTARIES 6N 

in keenefs of wit. But his faults at leaf! 
counterbalance his merit; for his fancy* 
which is inexhauftible, is never chaftifed by 
a fenfe of propriety or decorum. His 
language is inelegant, and the inequality of 
his pieces is the confequence of negligence, 
an unpardonable fault in a writer. He 
who prefumes to folicit the public attention, 
ought certainly to omit no means in hi& 
power to deferve it ; and the ufeful qualities 
of diligence and accuracy, give refpe&a- 
bility to moderate talents and atone for 
many defefts in compofition. 

It Ihould feem as if it had been impofli- 
ble to corrupt the chaftity of Virgil's mufe ; 
but the ill-placed induftry of Aufonius 
has efFe&ed this unjuftifiable purpofe, and 
his Cento Nuptialis will be an eternal mo- 
nument of his difgrace. 

CLAUDIAK 

Towards the end of the fourth century, 

and in the reign of Honorius and Ar- 

cadius, Claudian wrote feveral poems, 

9 which 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 43X 

which are fcarcely worthy the name of 
epic. His Rape of Proferpine flood higheft 
in his own efteem, and the opinion of 
critics has confirmed the judgment which 
he formed of it. But genius not under the 
guidance of difcretion, is ever found to be 
equally dangerous in writing and in con- 
duct. His flights are often extravagant 
although beautiful, and his figures are too 
bold to be endured by the lovers of correct 
compofition. 

The purity of his language and the 
melody of his numbers, obtained him the 
praife of Scaliger. Of wit he has the hap- 
pieft vein ; and it is a fubjedt both of fur- 
prife and concern, that as the latter part of 
his life was paffed in retirement and lite- 
rary eafe, he did not employ it in cor- 
recting the inequalities of his work, and 
weighing them by that ftandard of tafte 
.of which, from his admiration of Virgil, he 
f ia<f formed no incompetent idea. 

He would then perhaps have poffefled 
m uch < -.of the naajefty of the Mantuan bard, 
and ifcij S ht have claimed the diftinguifhed 

honour 



43* COMMENTARIES ON 

honour of exhibiting an exception to the 
corrupted ftyle which deforms all the 
poetry, not only of his own age, but of 
the three centuries which preceded him. 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 433 



SECTION XVI. 

Roman Oratory.— The Gracchi. — Cato. — Cicero. 

Oratory, though long cultivated, had 
not made any remarkable progrefs at Rome, 
until the time of Cato the cenfor and the 
Gracchi. No clear idea is left us of their 
predeceflbrs, except that they were far 
from reaching perfection ; for although 
they pofTefTed genius, it was neither under 
the direction of art, nor polifhed by the 
refining influence of tafte. But they were 
deftitute of that elegance, that harmony, 
that method of arranging words and con- 
ftrudting periods, all which occupy fo 
diftinguifhed a place in the bufinefs of an 
orator, who is no lefs obliged than the 
poet to confider the ear as the avenue to 

the heart. Vehemence and pathos were the 
chara&eriftics of the Gracchi, gravity and 
energy thofe of Cato. The Gracchi appear 
to have been in the number of thole who 
F f were 



434 COMMENTARIES ON 

were firft inftru&ed in Greek learning. This 
accomplifhrnent they owed to the care of 
their mother Cornelia, the daughter of 
Scipio Africanus, a woman whofe name 
will be venerated in every age, as long as 
learning mall be honoured, and virtue mail 
be loved. 

But ftill the Latin language was not 
then brought to perfection, nor did it ap- 
proach its acme till the feventh century of 
Rome, an epoch dignified by Antony, 
Craffus, Scsevola, Sulpitius, and Cotta, 
who fuftain fo diftinguifhed a part in the 
dialogue of Cicero de Oratore. 

Of thefe celebrated characters, and of 
the whole hiftory of Roman eloquence, 
no monuments remain, but fuch as are con- 
tained in the writings of Cicero. 

Marcus Tullius Cicero wasborn at 
Arpinum, a city of the Sabines, now part 
of the kingdom of Naples, about one 
hundred and ten years before Chrift. He 
was of equeftrian origin ; but the term of 
new man was applied to him,becaufe he was 

the 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 435 

the firft of his family who had borne any 
office in the ftate. 

The leading circumftance which ftrikes 
every attentive perufer of the life of this 
great man, is the wonderful care which 
was taken of his education by his father, 
and the zeal with which the ingenuous 
youth feconded his efforts. 

The Gracchi were not more indebted for 
their acquirements to the inftitution of 
their noble mother, than was Cicero for 
his unrivalled accomplifhments to the never- 
ceafing attention of his parent. That wife 
and tender parent quitted his elegant re- 
treat at Arpinum, in order that his fon 
might attend, during the day, a public 
fchool at Rome, over which a Greek maf- 
ter of eminence prefided. The progrefs 
* he made in his learning aftonifhed his 
fchool-fellows ; and fo rapid was the difFu- 
fion of his fame, that many of their parents 
came to fee the extraordinary youth. 

When Cicero affumed the manly gown, 

at the age of fixteen, he was placed under 

the care of Q^Mucius Scsevola the augur, 

F F 2 the 



436 COMMENTARIES ON 

the principal lawyer and ftatefman of his 

age. This was an advantage of incalculable 

value, and entirely unknown to modern 

times. In Rome, boys became proficients 

in the laws of their country by learning 

the twelve tables by heart, at the fame 

time that they acquired an eafy and perfect 

1 
knowledge of the Greek language, by 

reading it without the pernicious aid of 
a tranflation, — a pradice which always re- 
tards, and in this country, too frequently 
prevents the acquirement of it altogether. 
Cicero, when a boy, would fuftain a difpute 
on any legal fubjecl: with the greateft 
lawyers of his age. He alfo attended the 
pleadings at the bar, and the public fpeeches 
of the magiftrates, ft ill leading and taking 
notes at home, and tranflating the orations 
of the beft Greek orators. 

His imagination was conftantly excited 
by the practice of poetry, and his under- 
Handing enlarged by the refearches of phi- 
lofophy. As armies were placed under the 
command of ftatefrnen, Cicero made a cam- 
paign, in the focial war, with the Conful 
A. Pompeius Strato, the father of Pompey 
4 the 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 437 

the Great. But the greateft excitements to 
his induftry were the fame and fplendour 
of Hortenfius, a celebrated orator, whom 
he mentions in the warmed: language of 
encomium. An a&ive and laudable emu- 
lation exercifed him, day and night, in 
logical difputes, in Greek and Latin de- 
clamations, and in every poffible form of 
oratory : when to this was added the con- 
versation of the learned and polite, the re- 
fult was fuch, that at the age of twenty-fix 
he appeared at the bar, porTefTed of unex- 
ampled accomplifhments. 
• This account which is given to us of the 
early years of Cicero, equally creditable to 
his father, his tutors, and himfelf, will 
evince the efficacy of claffical education, by 
an inftance where it produced the wonder of 
his age. He was indeed fo far from 
placing any implicit confidence in his na- 
tural talents, that he applied as diligently, 
and cultivated them as affiduoufly, as if 
they had been of an inferior defcription. 

This is an ufeful leflbn to thofe who, 

trufting to a certain quicknefs of parts with 

which nature has endowed them, difdain 

F f 3 the 



438 COMMENTARIES ON 

the drudgery of application, that is requi- 
fite to the accomplifhment of the fcholar, 
however bright and diftinguifhed his 
genius. 

When Cicero firft appeared as a lawyer, 
Hortenfius was denominated the king of 
the bar; he had the honor therefore of 
contending with this formidable adverfary, 
and the glory of obtaining the efteem of 
him, whom he excelled. But it appears, 
that the eloquence of his rival wanted that 
folid foundation of clofe reafoning, which 
is one of the requifites of an able pleader. 
Splendour and ornament conftituted the 
principal merit of his fpeeches; and his 
aclion was more fuited to the ftage than to 
the bar. What pleafed in youth had fewer 
attractions in mature age, when a judi- 
cious audience expects all the weight and 
dignity which belong to knowledge and 
experience. The truth feems to be this, 
that Hortenfius declined in the opinion 
and favour of the public in proportion as 
Cicero was elevated. This unequal conteft 
clouded theif intimacy. The latter thought 

3 he 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 439 

he had reafon to complain of the conduit 
of his rival during his exile; but at his 
death he paid him a fincere tribute of 
regret. 

The firft public or criminal caufe in 
which Cicero engaged, was in the defence 
of Rofcius, charged with the murder of his 
father, by two of his relations who had 
actually affaffinated him. 

Amidft the profcriptions of Sylla, they 
hoped to fecure the eftate of Rofcius, 
which they had bought for a trifle, by a 
charge of parricide. 

In this caufe, the avenue to his future 
fame, Cicero fhewed an intrepidity which 
was highly creditable to him ; for, through 
fear of the dictator, all the great lawyers 
had, with a pufillanimous concurrence, 
refufed to undertake the defence of the 
ace u fed. 

It is our happy lot to live in an age and 
in a country, when in ftare queftions, not 
only innocence is fure of a defender, but 
even guilt will find an advocate to urge its 
extenuations. 

F F 4 Such 



44° COMMENTARIES ON 

Such were not the times, when Chryfo- 
gonus, the freed-man of Sylla, and the par- 
taker of his plunder, unexpectedly found 
one lawyer who dared to expofe himfelf to 
the refentment of a mod powerful enemy. 

When all the world were mute, Cicero 
ventured to fpeak. The ardour of virtue 
animated the firft efforts of his youth, and 
exhibited a fine contraft to that timid and 
paltry caution, which refrigerates maturer 
years. 

This noble conduct was one of the beft 
recolledions, that confoled him in his fub- 
fequent misfortunes. He mentions it to 
his fon with pleafure ; and cites his own 
example as a leflbn of that generous fpirit, 
which thinks no more of danger, whilft 
it is engaged in the protection of inno- 
cence. 

Having paffed two years in the praCticq 
of his profefficn, he repaired to Athens, 
and there he lived in the fociety, and 
availed himfelf of the inftruCUon of fcholars 
in every department of fcience ; there com- 
menced his friendfhip with Atticus, and 

that 



■■■ 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 44 1 

that honorable connexion was fevered but 
by death ; there he acquired that tempered 
action, that chaftifed fancy, and that 
ftrength of voice, which accompliflied him 
as an orator ; and there he cherifhed thofe 
patriotic fentiments which on many occa- 
fions gave a colour to his future life. 

Thefe were the fentiments which actuated 
him in his accufation of Verres. It is true 
that he carried into this caufe very great 
advantages; he was in the flower of his 
age, and in the full career of his honors ; 
he had exercifed the quaeftorfhip in Sicily 
with credit, and had been elected Edile. 
The Roman people, charmed with his elo- 
quence, and perfuaded of his integrity, 
lavifhed upon him, on all occafions, the mofl 
marked eulogiums. But in attacking Verres, 
he had formidable obftacles to encounter, 
for the culprit was fupported by the credit 
of every thing raoft powerful in the ftatc, 
The great, who confidered it one of their 
privileges to entrench themfelves in the 
government of the provinces by the mod 
alarming extortions, made a common caufe 

with 



442 COMMENTARIES ON 

with him ; and forefeeing in his punifhment 
an example to terrify themfelves, employed 
all the methods in their power to with- 
draw him from the feverity of the laws. 
Cicero, to whom the Sicilians had addreffed 
themfelves, as to the natural protestor of a 
province, to which he had been Quseftor, 
repaired to Sicily, to obtain the evidence 
which he required againfl: the accufed. He 
had demanded more than three months for 
his voyage ; but having learned that it was 
determined to protra£l the trial until the 
following year, when Meiellus fhould be 
Praetor, and Q^ Metellus and Hortenfius 
confuls, all defenders of Verres, he collect- 
ed his information in fifty days, and re- 
turned to Rome at the moment when they 
leaft expedted him. 

Confidering that the pleadings would oc- 
cupy many hearings and much valuable 
time, he proceeds immediately to the tefti- 
monialproof,in which for every fad he cites 
the witneffes, that Hortenfius might exa- 
mine them. 

The 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 443 

The evidence was fo clear, the depofi- 
tions fo concurrent, the fentiments of the 
aflembled multitude fo unanimous, that 
Hortenfius dared not reply, but advifed 
Verres to exile himfelf previous to the paf- 
fing of the fentence. 

This circumftance was the reafon that, 
of the feven fpeeches written by Cicero 
againft the delinquent, only two were 
fpoken. He left the reft as a model of the 
manner in which an accufation ought to be 
fuftained. The two laft fpeeches are gene- 
rally regarded as examples of perfection. 
They have for their object, the one the 
robberies and the rapines of Verres, the 
other his cruelties and barbarities. The 
firft is remarkable for a variety and rich- 
nefs of detail, by which a crowd of rob- 
beries are recounted, without producing 
fatiety to the reader; the fecond is admir- 
able for its vehemence and pathos, by which 
Cicero excites pity in favour of the op- 
preffed, and indignation againft the cri- 
minal. Whilft thefe fpeeches difplay the 
incomparable powers of the orator, they 

likewife 



444 COMMENTARIES ON 

likewife exhibit a horrid picture of arbi- 
trary authority exercifed by the Roman 
governors in their provinces, and of the 
ahufes which were practifed when corrup- 
tion of manners prevailed over the wifdom 
of the laws, In this view they are a leffon 
to ftatefmen, and a warning to every na- 
tion that yet retains its freedom. When 
we read a detail of atrocious and innume- 
rable crimes, a fingle one of which deferved 
death, we reflect with indignation on the 
defect of the Roman jurifprudence, which 
had more regard for the name of citizen 
than for that diftributive juftice which pn> 
portions punifhments to offences. 

This code of laws, worthy of eulogy in 
many other refpects, allowed that a Ro- 
man citizen who condemned himfelf to 
exile, fhould be confidered as fufficiently 
punifhed. Verres, having in his exile led 
a miferable life, returned during the pro- 
fcriptions of Octavius and Antony ; but 
imprudently refufing to prefent the latter 
with the beautiful Corinthian vafes and 
Grecian flatues, the relics of his Sicilian 

plunder, 



CLASSICAL LEA.RNING. 445 

plunder, he was placed amidft the number 
of the prescribed, and perimed together with 
the innocent and virtuous. 

The hiflcry of the Catiline confpiracy is 
fo well known, that perhaps wearinefs may- 
attend the repetition of it ; but if we would 
thoroughly appreciate the fpeeches of 
Cicero, we muft recur to the fituation of 
the republic at the time. 

The ancient fpirit of Rome no longer 
^xifted. The degradation of the mind 
followed the corruption of the manners. 
Marius and Sylla had proved, that the Ro- 
mans could endure tyrants. Love of li- 
berty, and the laws founded on equality, 
could not fubfifi: with that monftrous 
power, and thofe enormous riches of which 
the conqueft of fo many countries had put 
the Romans in poffeffion. Julius Caefar, 
fufpe&ed of being a party in the confpi- 
racy, hurt at the pre-eminence of Pompey, 
and the predilection, which the fenate had 
fhewn him, thought only of reviving- the 
fpirit of Marius. Pompey, without afpir- 
ing publicly to the tyranny, wifhed that the 

troubles, 



44-6 COMMENTARIES ON 

troubles and diforders arifing from the fac- 
tious difpofition, which reigned throughout 
the ftate, might reduce the Romans to the 
neceflity of placing themfelves under his 
protection, by naming him Dictator. 

The great, to whom the fpoils . of 
the three parties were infufficient for their 
luxury and defires, feared every thing 
that might reprefs their exactions, and 
raife the authority of the laws. A fmall 
number of citizens, with Cicero at their 
head, fufiained the republic when on the 
brink of ruin, and became the objects of 
declared or concealed hatred to aH, who 
were interefted in the overthrow of the 
ftate. 

In this fortunate conjuncture, Catiline 
formed his well-known project. Of the 
four fpeeches of Cicero againft him, there 
are two particularly deferving our admira- 
tion, fmce it is evident from the circum- 
ftances, that the orator had fcarcely any 
time to prepare them. Hiftorians tell us 
in what way he preferred his fpeeches, 
which were made upon the fpur of the oc- 

cafioiu 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 447 

cafion. He was accuftomed to place fhort- 
hand writers in the fenate, who wrote al- 
mofl as fad as he fpoke. That art, fo early 
invented, was afterwards loft ; but the in- 
vention, renewed in our days, belongs to 
Cicero. 

Some perfons not well acquainted with 
Roman manners and the hiftory of the 
times, have been furprifed that the Conful 
did not immediately arrefl: Catiline, after 
the clear information of the confpiracy 
given him by Fulvia. The decree of the 
fenate had furnifhed him with the power ; 
but the whole body of the nobles, jealous 
to an excefs of their privileges, would have 
revolted, if he had deprived a patrician of 
his liberty, not only unconvicted but unac- 
cufed. In his addrefs to the criminal in 
the fenate, u How long, O! Catiline, 
will you abufe our patience ?" we recog- 
nize the orator and the ftatefman. 

It is a moft pleafing reflection to the 
hiftorian, whenever an inftance occurs in 
which the delineation of genius is at the 

fame 



44-8 COMMENTARIES ON 

fame time the record of virtue; but the 
honour apparently attributable to Cicero is 
in no fmall degree fullied, when we recoi- 
led: that there was a time, when he had 
refolved to defend Catiline, in order to ob- 
tain the confulfhip the more eafily ; " That 
if he obtained his acquittal, he might be 
the more ready to ferve him in their com- 
mon petition." 

When, however, Cicero had determined 
to take the better part, his conduct in a 
difficult conjuncture is worthy of the 
greateft praife. 

Salluft, whofe enmity to him is evident, 
fpeaks of the elegant fpeech pronounced on 
the occafionby Cicero, which he afterwards 
published. This procured an almoft unani- 
mous fentence of death to be given by the 
fenate againft the confpirators, which was 
executed immediately. 

" They have lived," were the few 
words which were ufed by the conful to 
the affembled partizans of the confpira- 
tors, by which he for ever damped all their 

hopes 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 449 

hopes of fuccefsful rebellion, and difperfed 
them in an inftant with amazement and 
terror. 

It was night, and Cicero was conducted 
home by the principal men of the city, and 
amidft the acclamations of all the people. 
They placed flambeaux at the gates of 
their houfes to light him on his way. 
The women from the windows fhewed 
him to their children as he pafled. Some 
time after, Cato before the people, and Ca- 
tulus in the fenate decreed him the name 
of " Father of his country f* a. glorious 
title, which, in after-times, adulation at- 
tached to the imperial dignity, but which 
Rome, while free, fays Juvenal, gave to 
no one but Cicero. 

It would be a fruitlefs tafk to refer to 
his various orations, of which the text 
carries its own comment to fcholars, and 
which the induftry and talents of Middle- 
ton have placed in fo favourable a light 
before the Englilh reader ; but it is impof- 
fible not to hint at his defence of Mursena, 
G G which 



450 COMMENTARIES ON 

which not only fhews the flexibility of his 
genius, difplays the ardour of his friend- 
fhip, and the purity of his eloquence, but 
ftrikes us with aftonifhment, if we con- 
fider the moment, when it was underta- 
ken. 

At a period, when one fliould think, that 
the danger of the ftate would fully occupy 
his mind, fince he was engaged in watch- 
ing every ftep of the confpiracy fo clofely, 
that he could with difficulty allow himfelf 
any hours of fleep, did he find leifure to 
oppofe Cato and Sulpicius, and to become 
the ftrenuous and fuccefsful advocate of 
Muraena. 

While we fee the great orator, pafling 
from the fublime to the fimple, and ex- 
hibiting fo adroitly all the chara&eriftics 
proper to that kind of compofition, his art 
of difcuffion, his choice of examples, his 
agreeablenefs of turn, his delicacy and plea- 
fantry, are infinitely more worthy our ad- 
miration, if we confider, that they were 
difplayed amidfi: forced intervals and paufes 

of 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 45 I 

of anxiety and apprehenfion for the exift- 
ence of the republic. 

Cicero exhibited much refolution in his 
fpeeches againft Antony, who was no lefs 
an enemy of the ftate than of himfelf. 
They were fourteen in number, and he 
called them Philippics, becaufe they had it 
for their object to animate the Romans 
againft Antony, as Demofthenes animated 
the Athenians againft Philip. 

The fecond was particularly famous 
amongft the Romans, and pafled for a di- 
vine work, for fo Juvenal denominates it. 
Although never fpoken, it was publifned in 
Rome and Italy, and read with avidity. 
Antony never pardoned the author, and 
this was the principal caufe of his death. 

Cicero cannot be reproached with being 
wanting to his duty at the truly lament- 
able period, when Antony was all-power- 
ful. 

" When young, I defended the republic ; 
I will not abandon it in my old age. I 
have braved the fword of Catiline 5 I will 
riot tremble at yours !" 

G c 2 But 



45^ COMMENTARIES ON 

But intrepidity was not his permanent 
chara&eriftic. When the enmity of Clo- 
dius produced his banilhrrent, even his 
panegyrifts blufh at his pufillanirnous de- 
fpondence. .He, who had eagerly ftolen 
every moment in his power from his pro- 
feffional purfuits to refrefh himfelf with 
the elegant repaft afforded him by the per- 
ufal of the Greek authors, might furely 
in his misfortunes have derived from them 
the fame rational entertainment: he who, 
when at Athens, faid, that there were many 
things, which he never could have borne, 
had he not taken refuge in the port of Phi- 
lofophy, with his friend Atticus, the compa- 
nion and partner of his ftudies, ought furely, 
in his folitude, to have (Jrawn confolation 
from fimilar refearches : but his mind was 
deftitute of that firmnefs which renders 
men fupe-rior to adverfe fortune ; and in a 
letter to Terentia during his exile, he be- 
wails his unhappinefs, and confefles, that it 
is the effecl: of his cowardice. 

In the civil war between Pompey and 

Caefar, the fame imbecility difgraced him. 

I His 



CLASSICAL LEARNING, 453 

His irrefolution, in his letters tc \tticus, 
is in no fmall degree reproachful to hi : 
for who, that pretends to the character of a 
patriot fhould hefitate in the choice of his 
party, when he perceives, that on the one 
fide is all the juftice, and on the other all 
the power ? His attachment to Pompey 
was undoubted ; and it is no apology for 
repairing fo late to his camp, that he had 
perfpicacity enough to forefee the iffue of 
the conteft. 

When the day of Pharfalia decided the 
victory againft his friends, prudence might 
induce him to abftain from any far- 
ther unavailing oppofition to the conque- 
ror : but it furnilhes no eulogium upon a 
man, whofe life was already turned of fixty, 
that he compofed a poem in honour of 
Gasfar, for the paltry purpofe of retaining 
the provinces of the Gauls. How feeble 
was the energy of that virtue which could 
not reprefs the proftitution of his talents 
but evaporated in a dishonourable confef- 
fion, " that he found it difficult to digefl 
the meannefs of recantation !" 

a g 3 With 



454 COMMENTARIES ON 

With juft fentiments, but wavering re- 
folution, no one in high ftations can be 
truly great. Cicero is not a fingle inftance 
to prove the truth of this affertion. The 
future hiftorian of our own country may 
find perhaps a parallel example, and per- 
ceive that, in lefs perilous conjunctures, 
perfonal intrepidity has been fometimes 
wanted to give dignity and refpedT: to 
genius the moft refined and attainment? 
the moft extenfive. 

Allow to Cicero all the attraction in 
the character of Csefar, arifing from a 
fimilarity in their tafte, as men of letters, 
or a ftronger argument deducible from 
his artful and mild demeanour, which 
might excite fome hope, that he would 
reftore the republic ; yet if thefe would 
have furnifhed a vindication of forbear- 
ance, they will not fuftain any apology for 
adulation. 

If this queftion did not bring its own fo- 
lution, the difpofition of Cicero is clearly 
evinced, when placed in contraft with that 
of Brutus, by a reference to their cor- 

refpondence 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. ' 455 

refpondence refpe&ing O&avius. In this 
it muft be confefled, that the one difcovers 
himfelf a time-ferving politician, the other 
a bold and unyielding republican. 

If honefty be policy, cunning is not wif- 
dom ; Odtavius felt no fcruple to give up 
dubious adherent to the refentment of a 
powerful colleague ; and the fugitive could 
fcarcely hope to redeem the errors of a 
life, advanced to its grand climacteric, by 
meeting with apparent calmnefs the irre- 
fiftible ftroke of the aflaffin. 

If the conduct of Cicero be a proof of 
the weaknefs of human nature, his works 
are a fplendid atteftation of the powers of 
the human mind. Livy fays that, to praife 
Cicero, the panegyrift muft be another 
Cicero ; and in the time of Quintilian, his 
name was given to any one whom they 
wifhed to defignate as fupremely eloquent. 
Ages have ratified the cuftom, and immor- 
talized the orator. 

It would be abfurd to revive the much- 

contefted queftion refpe&ing the fnperio- 

rity of the Greek or Roman orator, which 

g g 4 at 



456 COMMENTARIES ON 

at laft will be decided by the varying tafte 
of different readers. We cannot judge by 
the inftantaneous effe&s of their eloquence 
upon the audience; but Philip and iEfchines, 
Antony and Catiline, beft knew its force. 
Both had the fame fuccefs, both exercifed 
the fame empire over the foul. Perhaps 
the powers of each were beft fuited to the 
conjunctures, which called them into action. 
It is a melancholy, but an inconteftable 
truth, that the troubles of a ftate are favour* 
able to the orator: but, as the art of medi- 
cine would be of no avail but for difeafes ; 
fo, if eloquence be fubfervient to the paf- 
fions, it is eloquence alone which can com- 
bat them. 

The different chara£ter of the Greeks 
and Romans may furnilh us with an argu- 
ment to evince the parallel merit of De- 
mofthenes and Cicero in the mode of 
fpeaking, which each of them adopted. In 
Athens there was but one power, that of 
the people : it was an abfolute democracy. 
The Athenians were fickle, carelefs, fond 
of repofe, idolaters of pleafure, confident of 

their 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 457 

their power, and jealous of their glory. 
They required to be ftrongly excited ; and 
the natural talents of Dernofthenes were of 
neceffity modified by the knowledge, which 
he had of his hearers. His object, there- 
fore, was to ftrike the inattentive multitude 
with violence, well knowing that if he gave 
them time to breathe, or to repofe on the 
agreeablenefs of ftyle, or the beauties of 
di&ion, all would be loft. " By the advice 
of Dernofthenes, the people of Athens re- 
folve and decree," is the common formulary 
preferved in the hiftorians of Greece. 

It was not the fame at Rome ; there was 
a diverfity of powers, and a complication 
of interefts to be managed. Although the 
fovereignty refided, in fact, in the people, 
without being fo eftabliihed in theory, the 
adminiftration was in the fenate, except 
where the tribunes carried an affair before 
the affembled people and caufed a plebi- 
fcitum to pafs. 

As law required the concurrence of the 
two orders, hence frequent difputes arofe 
between them. The Romans were more 

ferious, 



458 COMMENTARIES ON 

ferious, more refleding, more moral, thai* 
the Athenians 5 at no time would they have 
borne the reproofs which Demofthenes 
lavifhed without fcruple, Cato alone in- 
dulged himfelf in them, and they excufed 
it on account of his ftoicifm and his virtue. 
A difference in the auditory muft produce 
a difference in eloquence. 

The two charaaeriftics of Cicero, as an 
orator, are infinuation and ornament, for 
he had to manage both the fenate and the 
people. Quintilian calls him the great com- 
mander of the human affections. Pliny 
admires the man who could perfuade the 
multitude to give up their bread, their 
pleafure, and their injuries, to the charms 
of his eloquence. 

After the conqueft of Greece, an ornate 
ftyle acquired irrefiftible attractions at 
Rome, in proportion as tafte and luxury 
began to prevail. They attached a great 
value to di&ion above all other qualities at 
the bar, where the pleadings were pro- 
longed as much for the amufement as for 
the inftrudion of the audience; fo that 

Cicero 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 459 

Cicero applied more care than Demofthenes 
to richnefs of expreffion, becaufe it was 
expected of him. Lovers of Atticifm have 
reproached him with a profufion of orna- 
ment, and Quintilian, his paffionate ad- 
mirer, felt himfelf obliged to juftify him on 
that point, 

The gravity of fenatorial debate would 
not bear all that vehemence, which was ne- 
ceftary to Demofthenes, in his harangues 
before the people, to fix their attention; 
and the Philippics of Cicero are, on this 
account, lefs animated than thofe of the 
Greek orator. 

Except in a few inftances, he feferved 
the thunders of his eloquence for the judi- 
cial contefls. There he had a career pro- 
portioned to the abundance and the variety 
of his means. This was the triumph of 
his talents. But even in this point he dif- 
fered from Demofthenes, who flew directly 
at his enemy, always attacking and ftriking; 
in lieu of which, Cicero makes a formal 
fiege, prepares himfelf for all events, and 

furrounds 



460 COMMENTARIES ON 

furrounds his enemy on every fide, until he 
crufhes him. 

It has been obferved by Dr. Middlcton, 
<c that his treatife on the complete orator 
is a ftanding monument of his abilities, 
and that it marks the way, by which he 
forms himfelf to that character, which will 
never be equalled till there be found united 
in any man the fame parts and the fame 
induftry." In his government in Afia, he 
was always up before day-break, walking 
in his hall, with his doors open, as he ufed 
to do when a candidate at Rome, which he 
fays was not at all troublefome to him from 
his old habit and difcipline. When the 
civil war removed him from the govern- 
ment, in his elegant retreats he fubftituted 
the delights of philofophy for the labours 
of eloquence and of office. At this period he 
compofed thofe works, of which apart is loft, 
but which formed a complete courfe of the 
philofophy of the Greeks. They- were the 
produce of five laborious years, written 
amidft the ftorms, which often threw him 

into 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 461 

into the waves of public difcord, and in 
which, together with the Roman liberty, 
he was at length ingulfed. The object 
of five differtations in dialogue, which he 
calls the Tufculan Queftions, becaufe the 
fcene is laid at Tufculum, one of his coun- 
try houfes, is to inquire into the confti- 
tuents of happinefs : and he has remarked 
five ; — contempt of death ; patience under 
pain; firmnefs in the different trials of life; 
a habit of combating the paffions ; finally, 
the perfuafion that virtue ought not to feek 
any recompence, but in herfelf. This 
theory is taken fr&m the doctrines of the 
academy and the portico, adorned and 
corrected by Cicero. Air that phiiofophy 
poffeiTes, worthy of regard in metaphyfics 
and in morals, is here embelli£hed by elo- 
quence ; and whatever is defective muft 
not be imputed to the author, when we 
recoiled, that revelation alone has fupplied 
it to us. 

Cicero offers very plaufible arguments 
for the immortality of the foul, and me- 
mory appears to hiin to be a wonderful 

faculty 



462 COMMENTARIES ON 

faculty, which cannot belong to matter* To 
thofe, who deny the immortality of the 
foul, becaufe they do not conceive what it 
can be, when feparated from the body, he 
gives this rational anfwer: And do you 
underftand better what it is in its union 
with the body ? I think ; therefore I exift > 
fays Defcartes. 

The veneration of Cicero for the divine 
Plato was profound; it is therefore no won- 
der, that he fhould concur with him on this 
mod important fubje£t. 

In his excellent treatife on the nature of 
the Gods, the intention is to prove the ex- 
iftence of a Providence, and to juftify his 
ways ; to ridicule and refute all the dogmas 
of thofe philofophers, who either difbelieved 
the creative power of a Supreme Being, or 
who pourtrayed their deities, more abfurd 
and more vicious than human beings. 

Amongft the ancient moral treatifes, none 
is better adapted to the perufal of youth 
than that on the various duties of man. 
His treatifes on old age and friendfhip 
meet a panegyrift in every reader. The 

1 1 former 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 463 

former is moft particularly attractive, and 
would almoft make old age defirable, 
Cicero was, and had a friend ; his letters to 
Atticus atteft this truth. Here we find the 
chara&eriftics of true friendfhip accurately- 
traced, the b eft precepts for the prefervation 
of it inculcated, and the odious fentiment 
of an ancient expofed, who faid, that " we 
ought to love, as if we muft one day hate." 
Cicero carried -his refearches into the re- 
gions off philofophy, and ably conducted 
the moft abftrufe queflions of moral and 
metaphyfical fcience. As a philofopher, 
his mind was clear, capacious, penetrating, 
and infatiable of knowledge. As a writer, 
he was endowed with every talent that could 
captivate either the tafte or the judgment. 
The being of a God, the immortality of 
the foul, a future ftate of rewards and pu- 
nifhments, and the eternal diftinclion of 
good and ill, thefe were the fubjecls of his 
inquiries, and he has placed them in a 
more convincing point of view than they 
were ever reprefented to the Pagan world. 
His arguments, diction, zeal, and eloquence, 

place 



464 COMMENTARIES ON 

place him on the fummit of human cele- 
brity. 

" The letters of Cicero, of which 
there are four hundred to Atticus, are all 
written in the genuine fpirit of the beft 
epiftolary compofition ; familiar, but ele- 
vated, eafy but elegant, they difplay him 
in the focial relations, — a warm friend, 
a zealous patron, a tender hufband, affec- 
tionate brother, indulgent father, and a 
kind mafter ; they exhibit an ardent 
love of liberty and the conftitution of his 
country, much interefting defcription of 
private life, and of public tranfa&ions and 
characters." 

To the lover of eloquence copious and 
diffufe, Cicero will (land without a rival ; 
to him, whom a ftyle of energy and com- 
preffion captivates, the Grecian orator will 
- appear tranfcendent in dignity and in 
fame: but every candid critic, and every 
man of modefty and decorum will allow, 
that egotifm and vanity have debafed the 
high attainments, and fullied the fplendid 
pages of the Roman orator. 



CLASSICAL LEARNING, 465 



SECTION XVII. 

Roman Moralijls and 'didactic Writers.— Seneca*-? 
£>)uintUian, — Pliny the Younger. 

Jaoman eloquence, precipitated in the 
fate of Roman liberty, was deprived of its 
dignity, elevation, energy, boldnefs, and 
importance. It would not fhew itfelf in 
the affemblies of a people, who had no 
longer any power; and in the delibera- 
tions of the fenate, it could only be difplay- 
ed in humility and adulation. 

The tribunals of juftice were no longer 
worthy of its voice, fince the public judg- 
ments had loft their credit and their ma- 
jefty, where they difcuffed only petty 
interefts, and where all the reft depended 
upon the will of an individual. 

A free ftate is the proper field of elo- 
quence. It produces antagonifts, con- 
lefts, dangers, and triumphs. Men take 
H h their 



466 COMMENTARIES ON 

their rank according to their faculties and 
their merit. Under an arbitrary govern- 
ment, civil and political life cannot be com- 
pared to a broad road, where every man 
may endeavour to out-ftrip his competi- 
tor ; but to a narrow defile, where every 
one marches in filence and with cautious 
fteps. 

Such was the condition of the Romans 
after the time of Auguftus ; whofe reign 
afforded a brilliant epoch of the perfe&ion 
of tafte in language, and in the fine arts, but 
faw true eloquence expire with the repub- 
lic and with Cicero. 

SENECA. 

There are generally reckoned three ages 
in Latin letters : that of Ennius, Accius, 
Pacuvius, and Cato the cenfor, when the 
language was yet rude, as the manners of 
the people were grofs ; that of the Grac- 
chi, who were the firft, that tempered the 
Roman rufticity by the politenefs of Greek 
learning; and finally, that of Cicero, in 

which 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 467 

which are comprized Craffiis, Antony, 
Csefar, and Hortenfius, but the great orator 
gives a name and celebrity to the epoch. 

L. Annjeus Seneca was a Spaniard, 
educated at Rome, where his father be- 
came one of the equeftrian order. He 
was a lawyer of confiderable eloquence, 
but, from a fear of the jealoufy of the 
emperor Caligula, relinquifhed his profef- 
fionj and, after he had been chofen Qusef- 
tor, was banifhed to Corfica, on a charge of 
too great intimacy with Julia Livilla the 
daughter of Germanicus and Agrippina. 

After the death of the former, and the 
marriage of the latter with the Emperor 
Claudius, Seneca was recalled, and appoint- 
ed preceptor to her fon Nero. 

In fuch a reign, it is not likely that the 
precepts of a philofopher could be tolerated. 
An idle pretence of his having engaged in 
a confpiracy enabled his pupil, then become 
Emperor, to command him to deftroy him- 
felf ; and the calmnefs with which he re- 
ceived the mandate, and the confolation, 
with which he encouraged his friends du- 
H H 2 " ring 



468 COMMENTARIES ON 

ring the lingering procefsof his death, firft 
unfuccefsfully attempted by the opening of 
his veins, then by a draught of poifon, and at 
laft effe&ed by the fuffocation of a ftove, 
have rendered him an objeft of pity and 
refpect. He died before he had completed 
the fifty-third year of his age. His writ- 
ings are on moral topics; and he is juftly 
admired for his refined fentiments and 
virtuous precepts. 

It is faid by a panegyrift, " that no 
man ever produced greater or jufter 
maxims. His concifenefs imprints them 
on the memory, and their number is not 
fuperior to their value. In the character 
of a true moralift, he furpafTes all the 
heathens." His firft work is on Anger, 
addreffed to Novatus; he argues ftrenu- 
oufly againft it, in oppofition to the 
Peripatetics, and urges the retraining of 
It* His fecond treatiie is on Confolation, 
addreffed to his mother Helvia, in his ba- 
nifhrnent, fuggefting every poffible argu- 
ment in its favour. A treatife on Provi- 
vidence, in which he vindicates its exift- 
1 enco 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 469 

cnce and the exiftence of evil, is conduct- 
ed with great force of argument. The 
trad on Tranquillity of Mind, though con- 
fufed in the arrangement, contains a variety 
pf juft obfervations. The difcourfe on the 
Conftancy of a Wife Man is his beft. That 
on Clemency, addreffed to the Emperor, is 
worthy of a perufal ; and thofe on the 
Shortnefs of Human Exiftence and on a 
Happy Life, are truly admirable. He had 
originally been a difciple of the ftoic phi- 
lofophy ; but a fear of perfonal fafety, which 
was endangered by the threats of Tiberius 
againft all thofe who abftained from the 
ufe of meat, induced him to relax in his 
feverity. As long as adulation could ferve 
his purpofe, Seneca pra&ifed it without 
bounds ; but found, as flatterers have often 
done, that tyrants are not only cruel but 
capricious. 

Nothing perhaps is more dangerous in 
a writer than genius without genuine tafte. 

The rays of light w r hich he carnally emits 

ftrike every beholder. The mifts which 

obfcure him are remarked but by a few. 

h h 3 As 



470 COMMENTARIES ON 

As Seneca was endowed by nature with 
more fpirit than genuine talents, he was 
more interefted in decrying ancient elo- 
quence than in endeavouring to excel it. 
He did not ceafe, fays Quintilian, to de- 
claim againft thofe great models ; becaufe 
he perceived that his own manner of writ- 
ing was very different from theirs, and 
that his glittering fententious ftyle, pof- 
feffing the charm of novelty, had a pro- 
digious vogue with the Romans while his 
favour at court and his fortune continued 
to encreafe. To be in the falhion it was 
necefTary to write like Seneca. 

His letters to Lucilius on moral and 
philofophical fubjeds have nothing of epif. 
tolary eafe, but are replete with rheto- 
rical, and fometimes with puerile declama- 
tion. 

The turn of his thoughts is frequently 
forced, obfcure, tortured, and afFe£ted. All 
thefe vicious qualities are to be found in 
his pages; but ftill the thoughts are in- 
genious, and the moral, like that of the 
ftoics, 13 noble and elevated. It teaches 

a con- 



ii 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 47I 

a eontempt both of life and death, tends 
to exalt human beings above tranfitory 
objects, and to place virtue above all 
things. 

But ftill the warmth of Seneca is that of 
the head, rather than of the heart. He is 
the rhetorician of the portico ; Cicero the 
orator of morality. Their object is the 
fame, and their principles are coincident ; 
but, fuch is the difparity in their manner, 
that the academician has more real effect 
than the ftoic. The fage of Cicero is a 
man, that of Seneca a chimera. 

In his philofophical notions, there is 
neither connexion, clearnefs, nor precifion. 
He is a ftoic who acknowledges no other 
good than virrue ; he is a materialift who 
declares that good to be a body. The 
paffions alter the features of the counte- 
nance, and therefore the paffions are cor- 
poreal. The virtues ad: by contact with 
the body ; courage impels, moderation 
reftrains : therefore the virtues are mecha- 
nifm, and mechanifm is body. The good of 
the body is corporeal, the good of man is 
the good of the body ; therefore good is 
H H 4 corporeal. 



472 COMMENTARIES ON 

corporeal. Such is the inconfequential 
reafoning of Seneca, 

It is ftrangethat a man who had accefs 
to the writings of Plato, Ariftotle, and 
Cicero, who might have learned even from 
Pythagoras, that the foul in us is like har- 
mony in inftruments, the refult of founds, 
of meafure and motion, fhould have pro- 
fited fo little by lights which had been fo 
generally difFufed. 

The mod accredited philofophers had 
believed that fpirit and matter, the foul and 
the body, were two fubftances neceflfarily 
heterogeneous. Four hundred years had 
elapfed fince Ariftotle had diftinguifhed the 
fubftances and the modes, the fubje&s and 
the attributes of being; and the ignorance 
of Seneca on this fubjecl: cannot therefore 
be excufed like his ignorance in phyfics, 
which has its apology in the fmall progrefs 
that fcience had made at that period. 

Seneca has, however, a fpecies of ener- 
getic di&ion occafionally, of which the 
following paflage is an example : 

" The death of Callifthenes is an eter- 
nal ftain upon Alexander, which neither 

his 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 473 

his courage nor his military exploits will 
ever efface. When they fay that he has 
deftroyed thoufands of Perfians ; we will 
anfwer, and Callifthenes : when they fay 
that he has deftroyed Darius, the fovereign 
of a powerful empire ; we will anfwer, but 
he has killed Callifthenes : when they fay 
that he has fubje&ed every thing even 
to the ocean, that he has covered the 
ocean itfelf with new veflels, that he has 
extended his empire from an obfcure cor- 
ner of Thrace to the limits of the eaft; 
we will anfwer, but he has killed Callif- 
thenes : when he fhali even have eclipfed 
the glory of all the Kings and all the 
Heroes his predeceflbrs ; he has done no- 
thing fo great, as the crime of having kil- 
led Callifthenes." 

The repetition is oratorical, and gives 
confiderable effe£t to the fentences. 

But Alexander did not kill Darius ; and 
the murder of the philofopher was not a 
crime of a deeper dye than that of the noble 
Clitus, or the innocent and aged Parmenio. 
To his panegyrifts it may be truly urged, 

that 



474 COMMENTARIES ON 

that he is lefs moral than Cicero or Plu- 
tarch; that inftead of an abundance of 
thoughts, he has only an abundance of 
phrafes turned into apothegms, to repeat 
the fame idea; that his ftyle is deformed 
by forced turns and flafhes of wit, which 
may fometimes dazzle for an inftant, but 
the futility of which ftrikes every attentive 
fpe&ator. 

He fays, well and happily, That the fu- 
nerals of children are always premature 
when mothers affift at them. He fays to 
Nero, to whom his treatife on Clemency is 
addreffed, The moft galling fervitude of 
grandeur is not to be able to defcend from 
it, but this neceflity is common to you 
with the gods. Heaven is their prifon. 
He fays that the gods do not fufFer profpe- 
rity to fall upon any but abjecT: and vulgar 
fouls. Seneca, who was very rich, and for 
a long time powerful and honoured, might 
have been afked, if he thought himfelf ab- 
jecT: before the Gods ? 

His morals are fometimes imperfecT:; as 
when he fays, " I do not propofe to equal 

the 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 475 

equal the moft virtuous, but to furpafs the 
wicked." 

The ideas of ancient philofophy on the 
divinity were often abfurd. The bed of 
all are not exempt from error, and on this 
fubject natural inftincT: has fometimes fur- 
paffed them, 

Quintilian, while he renders juftice to 
the fpirit, the talents, and the knowledge of 
Seneca, fays, that his ftyle is throughout 
corrupt, and his example dangerous. He 
certainly contributed more than any writer 
to injure the public tafte ; for he had feduced 
the youth by the attractions of a tinfel-led 
ftyle, of which they did not perceive the 
defe&s. He feems, indeed, to have erred 
by miftaking concifenefs for precifion. The 
former confifts in confining the thoughts 
within the fmallefl poflible fpace ; and by 
that means becomes inaccurate, obfcure, and 
equivocal : the latter confifts, in an exacl: 
proportion between the idea and the ex- 
preflion ; it adds to the force of language, 
but does not at all detract from its clearnefs 
or its beauty. 



4/6 COMMENTARIES ON 

$UIN?ILIAN. 

If any thing could give additional value 
to the writings of Quintilian, it is the epoch 
in which they were compofed. 

Marcus Fabius Quintilianus was a Spa- 
niard, born during the reign of the Em- 
peror Claudius, in the firft chriftian cen- 
tury, and appointed by the government of 
Rome a public teacher of rhetoric : he was 
alfo a barrifter of great eminence ; and 
after the laborious exercife of his two- 
fold office for the fpace of twenty years, he 
gave lading celebrity to retirement by the 
compofition of an immortal work. 

All his promifed vifions of happinefs 
-were, however, quickly diffipated by the 
lofs of his wife and two fons \ and he died 
in the year ninety-five, dejedled in fpirit, 
arid poor in circumftances. 

For fifty years the world were not in 
poflfeffion of his inftitutes, which were dis- 
covered by a monk of Florence in the 
tower of a monaftery. 

Quintiliau 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 477 

Quintilian is as praife-worthy for his 
refolution, as he is refpeftable for his ta- 
lents. In a degenerate age he conceived 
the bold project of reviving found elo- 
quence, and of reftoring it to its ancient 
rights. 

He did this firft by his example ; for 
his pleadings, which are unfortunately loft, 
are faid to have been the only ones that re- 
called the age of Auguftus. He faw the 
pure eloquence of Cicero and Hortenfius, 
although for a while fuftained by MefTala 
and Pollio, foon precipitated to its fall by 
a crowd of rhetoricians who every where 
opened fchools for the art which they had 
difgraced. He became the reftorer of 
learning; and received the confular fafces 
from the Emperor Domitian, as a reward 
for the inftrucYion which he had given to 
his nephews. 

His inftitutes were written when he was 
fixty years of age ; and though antiquity 
has tranfmitted his name to us with un- 
bounded praife, and Martial calls him the 
glory of the Roman toga, ftill his inva- 
luably 



478 COMMENTARIES ON 

luable work on the fubjefl: of oratory con- 
tains his raoft fplendid eulogium. 

It is divided into twelve books 5 and 
comprehends not only a perfect fyftem for 
the contemplation of the orators, but an 
able criticifm on the works of the Greek 
and Roman claffics. The general purport of 
the two firft books, are precepts worthy the 
attention both of parents and of tutors. He 
fhews the advantages of early application 
to ftudy, and the preference of public to 
private education, on the ground, that it 
better qualifies youth to live in fociety, for 
which they were deftined. A ledture may 
be of more avail w T hen given to an indi- 
vidual; but the form of public fchools, and 
the habit of public and firnilar exercifes, in 
his opinion excite genius by the fpur of 
emulation. The fenfations are more lively 
when they are not folitary, and learning 
in public fchools is difFufed by conta- 
gion. * 

Quihtilian conducts the young fcholar 

through the inftrudion of his early years, 

to the ftudy of eloquence ; and in addition 

1 to 



MH 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 479 

to languages arid grammar, he recommends 
mufic and geometry, as the one forms the 
ear and gives him the fentiment of har- 
mony, the other accuftoms him to accuracy 
and method. He requires from him who 
prepares himfelf for eloquence, what Cicero 
recommends in his treatife " On a perfect 
Orator." The peroration of his firft book 
is a noble inftance of the enthufiafm of an 
accomplished fcholar. Youth are fo fufcep- 
tible of falfe tafte, that he exhorts them to 
adhere to the perufal of the bell: authors ; 
recommends Livy in preference to Salluft, 
but places Cicero before all others. 

When he enters upon the fubjecT: of 
eloquence, he difcuffes all the frivolous 
queftions which were then in vogue, and 
which are very uninterefting to us. He 
denies what we confider as a truth, that 
eloquence is the art of perfuafion ; and 
alTerts what w r e probably may deny, that 
the name of orator does not belong to 
him, who is not at the fame time eloquent 
and virtuous. With refpecl to the firft 

queftion 



480 COMMENTARIES ON 

queftion he fays, the definition is incof* 
re£t, fince eloquence is not the only thing 
that perfuades, for that beauty, and tears* 
and mute fupplications, perfuade alfo. 
When Antony the orator, pleading for 
Aquilius, fuddenly tears off the habit of the 
accufed and exhibits the wounds he had 
received in fighting for his country ; the 
Roman people cannot refift the fpe&acle, 
but abfolve the criminal. The anfwer 
feems eafy and obvious ; the Roman people 
were not perfuaded, they were moved: and 
to fpeak correctly, beauty charms, tears 
foften, but eloquence perfuades. 

With refpe£t to his fecond objection, the 
inftance of Casfar may refute it. Casfar, in 
the opinion of Cicero, was a very great 
orator, but he certainly would not have 
allowed him to be a virtuous character. 

All the world will agree with Quintilian 
when he exalts the art of fpeaking, and 
{hews the pre-eminence which it gives to 
man above all other animals ; and a more 
attentive perufal of the writings of Cicero 

and 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 481 

and Quintilian on the fubjed might pro- 
bably tend to fupply the great defideratum 
in an Englifli education. 

The art of eloquence, like other arts, is 
the effecT: of habit ; and in fo enlightened 
an age and country, it feems ftrange that an 
accomplifhed orator fhould ftill be regarded 
as a phenomenon. Whenever it fhall be- 
come a fafhionable part of the education of 
youth to learn to convey their ideas with 
as much care as they have acquired them, 
' the wife fenator and the able fpeaker will 
more frequently be found in the fame per* 
fon ; and no long exercife is required to 
evince the affertion of Horace, " That if 
the fubject be well underftood, words will 
fpontaneoufly prefent themfelves." 

Quintilian, like Ariftotle, mentions three 
kinds of oratorical compofition, the de- 
monftrative, the deliberative, and the 
judicial. 

Funeral orations are of the firft kind; 
amongft the ancients, thefe were delivered 
by the relations of the deceafed. 

1 1 Julius 



482 COMMENTARIES ON 

Julius Caefar, in pronouncing an eulogy 
on his aunt Julia, deduced their mutual 
origin from the goddefs Venus on the one 
fide, and from Ancus Martius, the fourth 
king of Rome, on the other. Thus, faid 
he, you will find in my family the fan&ity 
of kings, who are the mafters of men ; and 
the majefty of the gods, who are the maf- 
ters of kings. 

Marcellus had been one of the greateft 
enemies of Caefar. Since the battle of 
Pharfalia he had retired to Mitylene, where 
he cultivated in peace that literature which 
he paffionately loved. In an affembly of 
the people, his brother Caius threw himfelf 
at the feet of the dictator to obtain his 
return. Caefar defired that the fuffrages of 
the fenators fhould be taken individually. 
He wifhed to hear Cicero on a queftion 
which might exhibit the fenfibility of his 
friendfhip, and he was not deceived. 

In place of a fimple form of compliment, 
Cicero addrefied to the dictator the mod 
noble, the rnoft pathetic, and at the fame 
time the moil patriotic fpeech, that gratitude, 

friendfhip, 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 483 

friendfhip, and virtue, could di&ate to an 
elevated foul. It is impoffible to read it 
without admiration and emotion. 

Blame is the predominant feature of ano- 
ther fpecies of demonftrative eloquence, of 
which the firft oration againft Catiline, 
cited in a former page, furnifhes a fpeci- 
men. 

The deliberative eloquence is found in 
the writings of the hiftorians, in the Phi- 
lippics of Demofthenes, and in the orations 
of Cicero for the Manilian, and againft the 
Agrarian law. 

It may not be inopportune to obferve, 
that thefe Agrarian laws never were in- 
tended to attach upon private property, 
but only to divide certain conquered lands 
amongft a number of the poorer citizens. 
It was never a queftion, whether all the 
lands of the ftate fhould be equally divided 
amongft them, until the barbarians of the 
north enflaved all the polilhed countries of 
Europe. The molt celebrated banditti 
of Rome, even the cut-throats of Catiline, 
did not conceive this plan. When the 
j 1 2 tribune 



484 COMMENTARIES ON 

tribune Rullus endeavoured to revive a 
law which was the ftalking-horfe of ambi- 
tious citizens, Cicero invited him to conteft 
the point with him in public ; and nothing 
more was heard of that bugbear with which 
the tribunes had always been accuftomed 
to terrify the fenate. 

The judicial* kind of eloquence compre- 
hends all the affairs which are brought 
before courts of juftice. The moft remark- 
able of this fpecies was the difpute, men- 
tioned in a former part of thefe Commen- 
taries, between iEfchines and Demofthenes ; 
and the defence of the latter is confidered 
as the higheft of the judicial kind. 

In the Areopagus, a court remarkable 
for its purity, a crier was charged to inter- 
rupt the pleader, who wandered from his 
fubje£t to endeavour to move the pity of 
the judges. In other courts, it was permit- 
ted the orator to affift himfelf with all his 
weapons ; and in this art, Quintilian is of 
opinion that Cicero furpafles the Grecian 
orator. 



In 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 485 

In theory it feems either abfurd or im- 
proper to attempt to make an impreffion 
upon a judge, who either is, or ought to be 
an impaffible being. Demonftrative elo- 
quence is, in the opinion of Quintilian, 
fufceptible of all the ornaments of art. 
Deliberative eloquence ought to be more 
fevere and dignified ; judicial eloquence, 
ftrong in proof and convincing in argu- 
ment, free in expreffion, impetuous and 
impaffioned, and, laftly, powerful in ex- 
citing emotions in the judges. Of its five 
diftind parts, the exordium is to render the 
judges favourable and attentive, the narra- 
tion to explain the fa£t, the confirmation 
to eftablifh it by evidence, the refutation 
to deftroy the arguments of the adverfe 
party, the peroration to refume the fub- 
ftance of the difcourfe, and to engrave on 
the minds of the judges the impreffions 
which it is moil neceffary to give them. 

In this part of an oration, fenfible ob- 

je£ts were found to have the greateft eflfedt. 

We fee a tremendous example of it when 

Antony placed before the eyes of the Ro- 

1 1 3 man 



4&6 COMMENTARIES ON 

man people the bloody robe of Caefar. 
Quintilian mentions fome inftances ia 
which the abfurd exercife of this art en- 
tirely defeated its intention and its ufe. 
An advocate, pleading for a young woman 
whofe hufband had been affaffinated, expect- 
ed that a great effefl: would be producedif his 
portrait were exhibited to the judges at the 
peroration ; but the perfons to whom the 
office was entrufted, not knowing which 
was the peroration, every time the orator 
turned his head their way, failed not to 
hold out the portrait; which when the 
fpedators beheld, they found that he whom 
the widow lamented fo much was nothing 
but an old cripple. They immediately 
burft into laughter, and thought no more of 
the pleader. 

A certain perfon of the name of Glycon 
had brought a child into the court, with the 
hope that his tears and cries might foften 
his judges, and placed his tutor behind him 
to prompt him when he ought to begin* 
Glycon, full of confidence, addreffed him 
at the critical period, and afked him why he 

wept ? 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 487 

wept? It is becaufe my tutor pinches me ! 
exclaimed the child. Thus ended all the 
hopes of the orator. 

The bufinefs of a fpeaker is threefold, 
to inftrucT:, to move, and to pleafe. He 
inftructs by reafoning, he moves by the 
pathetic, he pleafes by elocution. In the 
latter are three predominant qualities, clear- 
nefs, correctnefs, and ornament. Quintilian 
treats of the arrangement of words, of 
numbers, and harmony of periods. Every 
fcholar, fenator, and public fpeaker, will 
read him with pleafure and advantage ; 
and although his object was to form his 
difciples for the Roman bar, and his work 
is more particularly applicable to their tri- 
bunals, yet it will open a wide field of 
inftruction to every one who fhall purfue 
the profeffion of the law in any age and 
in any country. 

FLINT THE YOUNGER. 

From Quintilian, the tranfition to Caius 
Plinius Secundus, his pupil, is eafy. He 

1 1 4 was 



488 COMMENTARIES ON 

was born in Infubria about fixty years 
after our Saviour, and very early diftin- 
guifhed himfelf as a pleader at the Roman 
bar. 

Enriched by a fucceffion to the eftate of 
L. Plinius Secundus his uncle, he refufed 
every reward for the defence of the inno- 
cent beyond the pleafure it afforded ; and, 
had his fpeeches been preferved, they would 
probably have refuted a modern maxim? 
that a legal opinion, not paid for, is not 
worth obtaining. 

In addition to a mind which was capti- 
vated by the love and fuccefsfully engaged 
in the cultivation of letters, he poffefled a 
heart in which all the charities refided. 
He was amiable to his acquaintance, and 
he was benevolent to all. Had a longer 
life than that of little more than half a cen- 
tury been granted to him, it is probable 
that pofterity would have received more 
teftimonies of his genius and his virtues. 
His panegyric on Trajan is the language 
equally of praife and of truth, and is per- 
Jiaps the only work which may ferve as an 

object 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 489 

objed of comparifon with the ftyle of the 
preceding age. It was not publifhed for 
many years afttr he had returned thanks to 
the emperor for appointing him conful. 
Praife to benefadors, when extended to 
topics of general charader, is often extra- 
vagant, and fometimes unjuft ; yet in this 
inftance, it had the rare advantage of being 
grounded on inconteftible fads. Hiftory 
accords with his eulogium, and, when with 
the portrait of a virtuous prince he contrafU 
that of the tyrants who had preceded him, 
the contraft renders it more ftriking and 
valuable. Pliny fays, his firft objed is to 
render to a great prince the homage that is 
due to his virtues ; then to prefent to his 
fucceflbrs not rules of condud, but a model 
which may teach them to deferve an equal 
{hare of glory by the fame means: that 
to didate to fovereigns what they ought to 
be, is painful and prefumptuous ; to praife 
him who ads well, in fuch a manner that 
the eulogium may ferve as a leffon to others, 
and be a light to condud them on their 

way, 



49<3 COMMENTARIES ON 

way, is an enterprize not lefs ufeful and 
much more modeft. 

After having fligmatized the bafenefs 
and unworthinefs of thofe Emperors who 
only checked the incurfions of the barbarians 
by pecuniary donations, and the purchafe 
of captives to be the ornaments of an 
illufory triumph, he exhibits a very diffe- 
rent conduct in his illuftrious hero. 

Every Emperor, at his inauguration, had 
a cuftom of diftributing money amongft 
the people. The orator here expreffes 
himfelf nobly and with intereft on the cir- 
cumftances which accompanied the libe- 
rality of Trajan. Another proof of the 
magnificence of the emperors, were the 
fpoils and fpeclacles which they gave to 
the Roman people, who were idolaters of 
them. If any thing could produce a dif- 
tafte for fuch reprefentations, it would have 
been the atrocity of the tyrants named the 
Csefars, who ftill found, in the amufements 
of the theatre and the combats of the chv 
cus, an occafion to make their fubjecls 

more 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 49I 

more fenfible of their defpotifm and their 
cruelty. Such was their attachment to a 
particular charioteer or gladiator, that they 
never fcrupled to facrifice thofe who efpou- 
fed the oppofite party. Under the Greek 
Emperors, this infenfate rage was pufhed to 
fuch an excefs, that the faclion of the 
Blues and the Greens, called fo from the 
liveries of the circus, occafioned more than 
once the moft horrible maffacres in Con- 
ftantinople. Before the time that Pliny 
wrote, Caligula, Nero, and Domitian had 
•fignalized their foolifh paflion for gladia- 
tors and pantomimes, by the moft mon- 
ftrous exceffes. The fports given by 
Trajan feemed to have had another cha- 
racter ; and this part of the panegyric, 
followed by an account of the punifhment 
of informers, difplays fuch beauties, that 
if Pliny had always written in this ftyle, 
he might well have been compared to 
Cicero. He felicitates the emperor on 
putting an end to informers, who had, by 
falfe accufations of treafon, deprived the 
itate of many valuable citizens, and en- 
riched 



492 COMMENTARIES ON 

riched the imperial coffers with the fpoil 
of the vi&ims. 

Trajan had lived a long time in a pri- 
vate condition. In that bell fituation for 
a refle&ing mind, he had marked the abo- 
minable reign and tragic end of Domitian. 

Adopted by Nerva, whofe reign was 
extremely fhort, Trajan appeared to the 
defponding empire as a being of fuper- 
human excellence. A man of fuch fpirit, 
as Pliny, could not fail to feize this circum- 
ftance, fo fortunate in its kind ; and the ob- 
fervations he makes upon it are worthy of 
our perufal. With energy and elevation 
he juftifies the manner in which he fpeaks 
of the tyrants who had oppreffed Rome, 
and of the happinefs which the fubjedt of 
his panegyric had diffufed. 

In the letters of Pliny, we fearch in vain 
for that familiar eafe and that difclofure of 
the heart, which are the proper chara&er- 
iftics of epiftolary correfpondence. It. is 
much to be regretted, that we have only 
fuch letters as were written for pofterity i 
however varied and agreeable their man- 

ner* 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 493 

ner, In however amiable a light they ex- 
hibit the author, they are not a faithful 
image of his mind. Ten books of them, 
were fele&ed by him, and prepared for the 
public. The names of the perfons to whom 
they are addrefled are thofe of his con- 
temporaries moft celebrated for their talents 
and their virtues ; and the fentiments he 
expreffes are worthy of fuch connexions. 
He interefts us equally for the friends 
whofe lofs he regrets — the victims of Do- 
mitian, and for thofe who participated 
with him the bleflings of his patron's reign. 
But times of tranquillity do not affed the 
reader like the violent revolutions of the 
age which Cicero defcribes. They poflefs 
a higher attraction for the imagination, and 
furnifh a richer aliment to the curiofity. 
In hiftory, as on the theatre, nothing is lefs 
interefting than a happy people. Middle- 
ton, in his life of Cicero, allows that 
the " Letters of Pliny are juftly admi- 
red by men of tafte, and that they fhew 
the fcholar, the wit, and the gentleman ; 
but that their poverty and barren nefe be- 

8 tray 



494 COMMENTARIES ON 

tray the awe of a matter. All his ftories 
terminate in private life; there is nothing 
important in politics ; no great affairs ex- 
plained ; no account of the motives of 
public councils. He had borne all the fame 
offices with Cicero, whom in all points he 
afie&ed to emulate ; yet his honours were 
in effect but nominal, conferred by a fu- 
perior power, and adminiftered by a fu- 
perior will, and with the old titles of con- 
ful and proconful. We flill want the ftatef- 
man, the politician, and the magiftrate. 
In his provincial command, where Cicero 
governed all things with a fupreme autho- 
rity, and had kings attendant on his orders, 
Pliny durft not venture to repair a bath or 
puniih a fugitive flave, till he had firft 
confulted and obtained the leave of Tra- 
jan. 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 495 



SECTION XVIII. 

Roman Hijlorians. — Julius Cafar. — Sallufl. — L ivy. — 
Tacitus. — ^uintus Curtius. 

X he Roman people were long celebrated 
for the prowefs of their arms and the wif- 
dom of their government, before any 
writer appeared amongft them. Literature 
did not commence with them, until the 
Roman fpirit had been formed for ages : 
it exhibited therefore not only a different 
character, but a totally different object, 
from that which it had in Greece, where 
it was firft excited by the imagination. 
The Romans defpifed the belles-lettres un- 
til the very moment when their philofo- 
phers, orators, and hiftorians, rendered the 
talent of writing ufeful to the ftate : fo that 
theirs is the only learning that in its 
origin was connected with politics. 



We 



49^ COMMENTARIES ON 

We may remark certain chara£teriftic 
differences in the three epochs of the lite- 
rary hiftory of Rome; that which pre- 
ceded the reign of Auguftus, the one which 
bears the name of that emperor, and that 
which may be reckoned from his death to 
the reign of the Antonines. Although 
Cicero died under the triumvirate, his 
genius appertains entirely to the republic. 
Though Ovid, Virgil, and Horace, were 
born during the republic, yet their writings 
are replete with monarchical influence. 
Even under the reign of Auguftus, fome 
authors, and particularly Livy, exhibit, in 
their manner of writing hiftory, a republi- 
can fpiiit : but thefe are exceptions to the 
general obfervation, that the works of au- 
thors receive a colour from the exifting 
form of the government. 

Although the Romans were lefs early 
addi&ed to learning than the Greeks, and 
lefs captivated by works of the imagina- 
tion, they are by fome critics confidered as 
their fuperiors in the depth and foundnefs 
of their underftanding ; and Quintilian has 

been 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 497 

been thought to have made too great con- 
ceflions when he compared Livy to Hero- 
dotus, and Salluft to Thucidydes ; that we, 
who are equally indebted to both thofe 
nations, ought in this inftance to differ from 
this judicious critic ; that the Latin his- 
torians are better painters and better orators 
than thofe of Greece, with whom they 
have been compared ; that the colours of 
Livy are brighter, and thofe of Salluft 
ftronger ; that the one excites more admi- 
ration by his brilliancy, the other by his 
energy. 

JULIUS CMS JR. 

It is faid, I think by Mr. Gibbon, that 
we are in want of a good life of Julius 
Csefar. The leading incidents of it are 
too well known to require repetition, and 
the nature of this work calls for a reference 
rather to his literary than his political cha- 
racter. 

In perufing his commentaries on the 

Gallic and civil wars, we feel a ccnfider- 

K K able 



49$ COMMENTARIES ON 

able intereft from the circumftance of his 
relating events, in which himfelf was per- 
fonally concerned, and in the account of 
which he has always been acquitted of par- 
tiality. He is circumftantial in the detail of 
facts, and he is delicate to a great degree 
in attributing to himfelf the merit he de- 
ferves. No one can be be placed in a 
higher clafs as a credible hiitorian. To 
have fought and to have written fo well 
has happened to no one but Csefar. His 
ftyle is formed on that of Xenopbon, and 
it pofTeiTes all the plainnefs and perfpicuity 
cf his model. It is the pureft Latin, 
elegant without affectation, and beautiful 
without ornament. Where eloquence is 
at all neceffary, Ca^far is eloquent, for he 
was an orator before he became an author. 
Hence fome of his panegyrifts have ob- 
ferved,that it was the heat of his eloquence 
which raifed a fufpicion of his being con- 
nected with the Catiline confpiracy. 

If the commentaries may be confidered 
only as notes or outlines of an hiftory ; 
what would have been the admiration of 

the 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 499 

the literary world, had the author com- 
pleted his work, fince the fir ft draught 
exhibits the general, the orator, the hifto- 
rian, and the fcholar ! 



SALLUST. 

About eighty years before the Chriftian 
rera, Crifpus Salluftius was born in the 
country of the Sabines. He received his 
education at Rome, where he engaged in 
all the diflipation of the city, and exhibit- 
ed a remarkable inftance of diiTolute con- 
duel. 

The contemplation of his writings is far 
more agreeable than that of his life. His 
preceptor, whofe name was Pretexatus, per- 
ceiving that his fcholar ihewed a predilec- 
tion for hiftory, gave him a fummary of the 
whole Roman hiftory, to choofe the par- 
ticular parts which he wifhed to treat of. 
He compofed the hiftory of the civil wars 
of Marius and Sylla until the death of 
Sertorius, and of the temporary troubles 
K K 2 excited 



SOO COMMENTARIES ON 

excited by Lepidus after the death of the 
dictator. 

Nearly the whole of this work is loft, 
and al! we have to boaft are the Catiline 
confpiracy and the Jugurthine wan 

His fame as an hiftorian, in the former 
work, is fullied by his evident prejudice 
againft Cicero, who ought to have appeared 
the prominent figure on the canvafs. It is 
the duty of a faithful narrator not only not 
to fay any thing that is falfe, but alfo not 
to omit any thing that is true. 

The fenate decreed thanks to Cicero for 
having delivered the ftate from imminent 
danger, without effufion of blood. This 
was a public a£t, mentioned by all the 
other hiftorians : Salluft does not men- . 
tion it. Catulus and Cato gave to Cicero 
the glorious name of father of his coun- 
try, which Pliny and Juvenal have re- 
ported: Salluft does not mention it. 
The magiftrates of Capua, the firft muni- 
cipal town in Italy, decreed a ftatue to 
Cicero for having faved Rome during 
his confulate :. Salluft does not mention 
II * it. 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 50I 

it. The fenate granted him an unprece- 
dented honor; it ordained what they called 
fupplications in the temples, which had 
never been granted but to thofe who tri- 
umphed : Salluft does not mention it. In 
the Catiline war, every thing is accurately 
detailed except the actions of Cicero. The 
fidelity of an hiftorian is concerned not 
only in exhibiting the punifhment of 
crimes, but the conduct and the reward of 
virtue. 

But he had married Terentia, the repu- 
diated wife of Cicero, and his perfonal 
enmity prevailed over his candour and 
his juftice. Indeed he owed his fituation 
to a fortunate election of his party. When 
his debaucheries had ejected him from the 
fenate. he became a partizan of Csefar, and 
by his power was reftored to his feat. 
When governor of Numidia, he enriched 
himfelf by peculation, but the fame circum- 
ftance preferved him from punifhment ; 
and Caefar affords an additional example to 
that which is daily before our eyes, that 
K k 3 the 



5G2 COMMENTARIES ON 

the head of a party is feldom fcrupulaus in 
the choice of his aflbciates. 

It is faid that, when the people accufed 
him to, the di&ator, Salluft was excufed 
from making his defence, by giving to the 
mafter whom he, had ferved a part of the 
money which he had ftolen, and fo fecured 
to himfelf the peaceable pofleffion of that 
magnificent houfe and thofe beautiful gar- 
dens at Rome, which ftill retain the name 
of their former owner, and which he en T 
joyed till he was fifty years of age, the 
period of his death. When the general 
demeanour of Salluft is recalled to our 
memory, it excites a fmile in the reader, 
who finds him fo loudly declaiming againft 
the depravity of his age, and fo anxioufly 
wilhing for the revival of ancient manners, 

Salluft has been accufed of endeavouring 
to impofe upon pofterity by affecting great 
aufterity in his fentiments, and by holding 
out a moral which did not fpring from the 
heart ; that he fearched for antiquated 
expreflions only to eftablifh a belief tha^: 

his 



CLASSICAL LEARNING, 503 

his principles, as well as his fkfU, had the 
virtuous fe verity of the firft ages of the 
republic: that he borrowed the terms of 
Cato the cenfor, in order to make it appear 
that he in fame meafure refembled that 
rnodel of virtue, to whom, in every refpe£r, 
he was directly the oppofite. 

In every thing that refpects talents, Sal- 
luft is eminently great. He exhibits not 
only a thorough acquaintance with the 
vices of Rome, but a deep and accurate 
knowledge of human nature. He is every- 
where correct in his relation of events, and, 
except in a fingle inftance, juft in his deli- 
neation of characters. He fathoms the 
depths of human policy, and not only de- 
fcribes actions, but developes motives. In 
that refpect he is fagacious as well as faith- 
ful, and executes with great ability the 
higheft part of the hiftorian's office. 

The reader is always gratified when he 
is enabled to trace effects to their caufes, is 
admitted to the cabinet as well as the camp, 
and obtains a clue which will open to him 
a way through the mazes of political life. 

K K 4 Thucidydes 



504 COMMENTARIES ON 

Thucidydes was his model ; but In nerve 
and force he is thought to be his fuperior. 

Seneca fays, that in the Greek hiftorian 
you may retrench fomewhat without dimi- 
nifhing the merit of the diction, much lefa 
the plenitude of the thoughts. In Salluft, 
a fingle word fuppreiTed, the fenfe is de- 
ftroyed. While he is equally concife, ener- 
getic, and perfpicuous, his fentences are 
lefs broken, lefs harm, and more elegantly 
conftructed than thofe of Thucidydes. His 
defcriptions are uncommonly correct, and 
his fpeeches are particularly animated. 
Who has ever read the fpeech of Catiline 
to the confpirators, beginning with the 
words " Ni Virtus," without being ftruck 
with admiration at the great ability of the 
writer ? It would indeed have enhanced 
his fame, had he tranfmitted to pofterity 
the noble and patriot addrefs of Cicero 
to the rebel, when he was about to 
feat himfelf amongft the fenators. The 
memorable exordium, " How long, Q 
Catiline, will you abufe our patience V* 
rufhes upon the fubjed with all the fire of 

Pindaric 



CLASSICAL LEARNING* 505 

Pindaric poetry, and the relation would 
have furnifhed an eulogium on the tafte as 
well as the juftice of the hiftorian, 

Salluft has been cenfured for the length 
of his harangues. Rapin fays, that foldiers 
do not declaim like orators. But his 
fpeeches are thofe of eminent men, per- 
fectly capable by education and talents to 
deliver them ; and they are appropriate 
both to the occafion and to the fpeakers. 

Though Salluft be concife in the narra- 
tive part of his hiftory, he is completely 
accurate, and equally celebrated for brevity 
and for fire. The tedioufnefs of his intro- 
ductions is the only alloy to the excellence 
of his works. They are circuitous to no 
ufeful purpofe, for they do not conduce to 
the main defign, and are frequently as irre- 
lative as they are prolix. It may probably 
have happened to many an impatient 
reader, to have relinquished the pleafure 
which this author would have afforded him, 
from the difguft, which he mud have ex- 
perienced at the outfet. But the diligent 
fcholar will not fo foon give up the pur- 

fuit : 



500 COMMENTARIES ON 

fuit : he refembles the labourer, who exerts 
himfelf, with unabated vigour, to remove a 
ponderous and ufelefs mafs of earth, from 
the confident expectation that it covers a 
vein of rich and valuable metal. 

LIVT. 

About the middle of the century which 
preceded the birth of Chrift, Titus Livius^ 
a native of Padua, appeared at Rome to 
give celebrity to the Auguftan 3ge. 

We have very little account of his life, 
hut the defecl: is fupplied by the poffeffion 
of a work which has no rival amongft the 
ancients. When in its complete ftate, it 
was compofed of one hundred and forty 
books, and embraced the whole hiftory of 
the Roman empire, from its foundation tq 
the death of Drufus, who was adopted by 
Auguftus. 

Of this ineftimable performance, only 
thirty-five books remain. This lofs, it is 
to be feared, is now irretrievable. Time 
and bigotry have probably concurred in 

deflroying 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 507 

deftroying this invaluable ftore of learning. 
The latter has been a reftlefs, violent, an4 
too fuccefsful enemy to learning ; and 
many of the pages of this author have haplv 
been obliterated to make room for the 
tales of a legendary faint or the maffes of 
a fuperftitious monk. 

So great was the reputation of Livy, and 
fo extenfively difFufed, that an inhabitant 
of Cadiz, a place at that time entirely out 
of the world, went from his country for 
the fole purpofe of feeing fo diftinguiflied 
a man, and returned as foon as his eiiriofity 
had been gratified. Upon this fubjeft, it 
was well obferved by St. Jerom, that it is 
a very extraordinary circumftance, that a 
ftranger, entering a city fuch as Rome, 
fhould wifh to fee any thing there but 
Rome itfelf. 

It is very remarkable, that, although pa- 
tronized by Auguftus, Livy dared to confer 
praife on the republican party, on Brutus, 
Cafiius, and particularly on Pompey, info- 
much that Auguftus named him the Pom- 
peian. 

In 



5o3 COMMENTARIES ON 

In the next reign, the conduct of go- 
vernment to authors was fo changed, 
that Cremutius Cordus, fearful of the re- 
fentment of Tiberius, ftarved himfelf to 
death for having denominated Caffius the 
laft of the Romans. Livy extols the rifing 
ftate of Rome as if fhe had then been the 
miftrefs of the world ; and perhaps in real 
grandeur and glory fhe more excelled, when 
fhe fought againft Pyrrhus and againft 
Carthage, than when her widely extended 
empire emboldened her to aiTume that im- 
perious title. At the former periods, the re- 
public appeared in the afcendant, when for- 
titude, patriotifm, and probity, gave thetrueft 
dignity, and the brighter]: luftre to its name. 

Livy has been accufed of being a fabu- 
lous writer ; but the prodigies he fpeaks of 
are only reprefented as traditional, and 
formed part of an empire where all was 
prefage and divination. The bulk of the 
people were fuperftitious, and government 
turned this fuperftition to the public ad- 
vantage. Irreligion alone has been found 
$ffentially hoflile to focial and moral order, 

The 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 509 

The books of the Sibyls were always 
holden facred, and confulted as occafions 
required. Perhaps even the fine genius 
of Livy might be tinctured with the po- 
pular creed as to fatalifm and divination* 
It has alfo been objected to this writer, 
that his hiftory, in point of the fpeeches it 
contains, refembles a romance. It is fuffi- 
cient to fupport the veracity of an hiftory, 
if it gives the fubftance of what an eloquent 
man did or might be fuppofed to fay on a 
certain occafion. At Rome, no one could 
afpire to office without being obliged fome- 
times to addrefs three or four hundred fena- 
tors, fometimes an affembled and tumul- 
tuous people. Legal accufations and de- 
fences were the great vehicles of eloquence. 
The mod conliderable members of the ftate 
were orators. Trifling difcuffions were 
carried before the prsetors, at an inferior 
tribunal; but all important caufes were 
heard before a certain number of Roman 
knights, in a vaft forum, filled by an at- 
tentive multitude ; fo that he who expofed 
himfelf to this perilous proof, required to 

be 



5ld COMMENTARIES QN 

be very fure of his talents and his firmriefe 
Eloquence, a rare quality in monarchies, 
was rendered by habit a common one irt 
the republics both of Greece and Rome. 
In thofe Mates, the art of perfuafion carried 
with it a power, inconceivable by thofe, 
who live in countries, where it is the crea- 
ture either of authority or of influence. 
The hiftorian therefore has not too 
highly coloured the fentiments of the 
fpeaker, though perhaps he has varied or 
dilated the language, in which they were 
conveyed. If any one doubt whether the 
harangues given by Livy fuit the charac- 
ter and circum fiances of the fpeakers; 
a"mongft many, that would tend to folve 
the doubt, let him perufe the difcourfe 
which Quintius Capitolinus, one of the 
greateft men of his time, and, what meant 
the fame thing when greatnefs and virtue 
were fynonymous, one of the beft citizens, 
addieiTed to the Roman people, when the 
ariimofity of the two orders made them 
forget their common intereft, and be re- 
gardlefs of their common danger. The 

iEqui 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. JII 

iiiqui and Volfci were at their gates, about 
three hundred years after the building of 
the city, and there was no preparation or 
difpofition to oppofe them. On this occa- 
fion, Quintius mounts the tribune, and 
addreffes the people in a fpeech, wherein 
are affembled all the means of perfuafion, 
which the art of oratory poffelTes. The 
tone is noble, the ftyle pathetic, the dio 
tion elegant and harmonious. 

Quintilian fpeaks of the laftea ubertas 
of Livy, He is indeed a model of imitation 
to all, who would compofe in Latin, for 
his narration has fweetnefs, purity, and elo- 
quence. The high rank he holds amongft 
his contemporaries will always be f uftained ; 
he is ever intelligible, diffufive without 
tedioufnefs, and argumentative without pe- 
dantry. 

The caufe of truth and virtue he uni- 
formly defends : and as the life of a fcholar 
is rarely replete with incidents, although 
that of Livy was extended to his fixty-fe- 
venth year, yet tradition has told us fo little 
of him, that his works, which on every 
2 account 



Sit COMMENTARIES ON 

account may be recommended to the ftudy 
of youth, are the beft comment on his 
chara&er. The hiftorical merit of this 
writer is the maj'eftic flow of his narrative j 
in which, events follow each other with 
rapidity, yet without hurry or confufion : 
to this may be added, the continual beauty 
and energy of his ftyle, by which his rea- 
ders are tranfported from their cloiet to 
the theatre of action. 

The tafte, the judgment, the eloquence 
of the Auguftan age are no where more 
happily combined than in the pages of 
Livy. Be his fubjeft what it may, whe- 
ther it require force or delicacy, whether 
an army is to be infpirited to fome great 
achievement, or a fenate to be foftened into 
compliance, he touches it with a matter- 
hand. Each, for the time, appears his 
chara&eriftic, till a fudden tranfition fhews 
him equally pofTefied of the oppofite. 

Longinus fays of the fublime, that it 
pleafes every body, and pleafes at all times. 
The Roman hiftorian anfwers completely 
to this definition. 

Nearly 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 513 

• Nearly two thoufand years can atteft the 
general approbation, with which he had 
been read. Sublimer thoughts are found 
in no hiftorian, yet thofe of Livy are al- 
ways unconftrained and natural to the 
perfon, who utters them. 

It has been ohferved, that the writers of 
tragedy diverfify their fcenes by aft ; and 
after the mind has been kept long upon the 
ftretch, by the reprefentation of fome great 
a&ion, they throw in fpmething of lefs im- 
portance to relax it. 

Livy is faid to have adopted their plan ; 
and when he has excited all the pain and 
forrow his readers can beftow, he foothes 
them by fome engaging circiimftance*, that 
relieves the mind by diverting the atten- 
tion. 

Judgment is a predominant quality in 
him. It is equally evident in his fele&ion 
of words, and in his delineation of charac- 
ters. Not only are his Romans diftin- 
guifhed from the inhabitants of other 
countries by their opinions and their man-r 
ners, but from themfelves at the different 
l l aeras 



514 COMMENTARIES ON 

seras and under the different forms of their 
government. 

This quality it is, which enables him to 
difcern what is proper to every chara&er, 
and to temper the fire of genius by difcre- 
tion. This warrants his panegyrifts in 
their warm eulogium, that " No man was 
ever great with fo much eafe, none was 
ever familiar with fo much dignity." 

TACITUS. 

" There yet remains to us," fays Quin- 
tilian, " a man who enhances the glory of 
our age, and is worthy to be remembered 
by pofterity ; whofe name will be dear to 
them, although now I do not mention it. 
He has many admirers, but no imitators ; 
for his love of liberty has injured him, 
though he has obliterated many things he 
had written. But you may difcern his 
highly exalted fpirit and his bold opinions, 
even in thofe, which remain. He is indeed 
a truly philofophical hiftorian." 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. $1$ 

5 * His Roman voice in bafe degenerate days* 
Spoke to imperial pride in freedom's praife $ 
And with indignant hate, feverely warm, 
Shewed to gigantic guilt his ghaftly form. ,, 

Hayley. 

In the firft chriftian century and in the 
reign of Nero, Tacitus was born of an ho- 
norable family. His father was a knight, and 
the Governor of Belgic Gaul ; and himfelf 
pafied through the gradation of civil offices, 
till, under the reign of Nerva, he was ap- 
pointed Conful. His works are a remnant 
of the Roman hiftory, of which twenty- 
feven years were completed by him, ex- 
tending from the fixty-ninth to the riinety- 
fixth year of Chrift, but of which only the 
firft and part of the fecond year have 
reached pofterity. He had written com- 
plete annals of Tiberius, Caius, Claudius, 
and Nero; the whole of thofe of Caius, 
and the beginning of thofe of Claudius, are 
loft. Of thirty books we have only fix- 
teen of this work, and five of his hiftory. 

L L 2 We 



516 COMMENTARIES ON 

We are, however, in pofleffion of two 
ineftimable compofitions of Tacitus; the 
one, a treatife on the manners of the an- 
cient Germans ; the other, a life of Agricola, 
whofe daughter he had married, and who 
had been governor of our ifland in the 
time of Domitian. Gibbon fays of Bri- 
tain, that " it fubmitted to the Roman yoke; 
after a war of forty years, undertaken by 
Claudius the moft ftupid, maintained by 
Nero the moft diflblute, and terminated 
by Domitian the moft timid of all the Em- 
perors." Before we confider the writings 
of Tacitus, it may be proper to recur to the 
times, in which he lived. His infancy was 
paffed amidft the horrors of the reign of 
Nero ; he lived during the atrocities of 
Galba, the drunkennefs of Vitellius, and 
the robberies of Otho ; but having refpired 
fomewhat a purer air under Vefpafian and 
Titus, was obliged in his manhood to fuf- 
tain the hypocritical tyranny of Domitian. 

Perhaps he may be faid to have lived at a 
time, when the condition of the human race 
was more unhappy than at any other in 

the 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 517 

the annals of the world. During four- 
fcore years, excepting only the fhort and 
doubtful refpite of Vefpafian's reign, 
Rome, fays Mr. Gibbon, groaned beneath 
an unremitting tyranny, which exterminat- 
ed the ancient families of the republic, and 
was fatal to almoft every virtue and every 
talent, that arofe in that unhappy period. 

Tacitus was conftrained to bend the 
loftinefs of his foul and to relax the firm- 
nefs of his principles, not to the debafement 
of a courtier, but to the compliance of a 
fubjecl: who dared not to complain. In- 
capable of deferving the friendmip of Do- 
mitian, he could not but deferve his hatred. 
His difguft he was obliged to conceal, and 
in fecret to lament the maffacre of inno- 
cent citizens and the wounds of his much- 
loved country. Prevented from giving 
vent to his feelings, Tacitus, in the de- 
lightful retreat which literature always 
affords to the virtuous in their difappoint- 
ments, poured forth a torrent of com- 
plaint and indignation, which alone 
could tend to confole him. This is what 
Vi/.3 ' renders 



5l8 COMMENTARIES ON 

renders him fo interefting and fo animated 
a writer. When he inveighs, he does not 
declaim. A man ferioufly and deeply 
affe&ed cannot do fo. He paints, in colours 
mod vivid, and mod true, all that flavery 
has to difguft, all that defpotifm and cruelty 
poffefs to terrify. 

The hopes and the fuccefTes of vice, the 
depreffion of innocence and the abafement 
of virtue, all that he had feen, and all that he 
had fuffered, — he defcribes in fuch a manner, 
that his readers are rendered fpe&ators 
and almoft fellow-fufterers with himfelf. 
Tacitus has been fometimes called a gene- 
ral calumniator. But did not he who has fo 
feelingly traced the laft moments of Ger- 
manicus, and who has left fo unqualified a 
panegyric on Agricola, difcern virtue where 
it exifted,and beftowuponitafplendidanda 
willing encomium ? Tacitus was an orator 
of great eminence. He delivered a funeral 
oration on the death of Virginius, whom 
he fucceeded in the confulfhip ; and to-* 
gether with the younger Pliny, who was 
his bofom friend, he conduced the famous 

caufe 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 519 

caufe of the Africans againft Marcus Prif- 
cus, accufed, as Pro-conful, of having re- 
ceived bribes in his office. He was 
fentenced to pay three hundred thoufand 
fefterces as a penalty, and to be baniihed 
from Italy, 

Tacitus defervedly holds a very high 
rank amongft the hiftorians of Greece and 
Rome. His fumrnary view of thofe dif- 
aftrous times, is an awful picture of civil 
commotion and the wild diftra&ion of a 
frantic people. All legitimate government, 
and of courfe all liberty, were at an end, 
when the Praetorian bands, the armies of 
Germany, and the legions of Syria affumed 
the right of electing Emperors without the 
authority of the fenate. 

Tacitus probably furvived his friend 
Pliny, and died in the reign of Trajan. 
Although they differed in politics, they 
were the ornaments of their age, men of 
diftinguifhed talents, encouragers of litera- 
ture, and patrons of virtue. Tacitus had 
read mankind as well as books. He had 
all the powers that conftitute a fine genius ; 
L L 4 he 



$26 COMMENTARIES ON 

he had a thorough knowledge of all the 
modes of government then known in the 
world, was verfed in all civil affairs, and 
intimately acquainted with the policy of 
ftatefmen. What a picture does he give 
of Tiberius ! how are his art and treachery 
developed ! i and how much does the nar- 
ration evince the propriety of a maxim, 
not always admitted, that truth only fhould 
be fpoken of the dead !■• What painter can 
Xo well pourtray the deftrudion of the le- 
gions under Varus ? How is the light con- 
tracted with the fhade, when he exhibits 
the amiable portrait of Germanicus ; his 
death in Syria ; and the appearance of his 
wife Agrippina at the port of Brundufium, 
when {he quits the fhip, leading her chil- 
dren and fuftaining the urn of her deceafed 
and murdered hufband ! 

In the lively defcription of the hiftorian, 
Meffalina dying becomes almoft an objefb 
of compaffion. His annals have been called 
an Hiftorical Pi£ture-gallery ; and thofe, 
who have denominated him a mifanthrope, 
had they recolleded that he had " fallen 

on 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. .5 21 

on evil times" ought rather to have diftin- 
guifhed him as the anatomift of the human 
heart. 

His life of Agricola is a perfect model of 
biography; a mode of writing cultivated in 
the time of the old republic, but entirely 
difufed under the Emperors. This general, 
having carried his victorious arms from the 
fouth of Britain to the Grampian Hills, 
was recalled by Domitian through envy 
of his fame, and lived for a few years, the 
remainder of his life, in the calm delights 
of a peaceful retirement. The hiftorian 
has written the life of his father-in-law, in 
language celebrated for its purity and ele- 
gance; and this performance has always 
been diftinguiftied for the many excellent 
inftryclions and important truths, which it 
contains. 

The ftyle of the Annals, the work of his 
old age, confiils of ftately periods and 
much pomp of expreffion ; that of the 
Hiflory is more fubdued and temperate, 
fparing of words and replete with fenti- 
ment. Tacitus has been reproached with 

falling 



522 COMMENTARIES ON 

falling into the error, mentioned by Horace, 
of becoming obfcure by attempting to be 
concife. He admits many Grsecifms into 
his language ; and in imitation of the man- 
ner, introduced by Seneca, is fometimes 
florid and poetical. His treatife, on the 
manners of the Germans, is a compofition 
juftly admired for the fidelity and exad> 
nefs with which it is executed; and here 
the objedions to his di£tion do not feem 
to have a place. His general language has 
been cenfured as being rather laboured than 
lofty, and his figures rather bold than juft. 
It is however confeffed, that his faults arife 
not from a want of power but of modera- 
tion ; not from a deficiency of genius but 
of judgment ; that when he choofes to 
defcend from his exaltation, there is no 
author among the Romans, who writes with 
greater purity. 

If a certain obfcurity or affe£tation be 
found to deform his ftyle and render it a 
dangerous model for the imitation of youth, 
exhibiting rather a mifapplication than a 
difplay of talents \ yet fuch is the dignity 

and 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 523 

and fuch the juftnefs of his fentiments, 
fuch the profoundnefs of his underftanding 
and apparent goodnefs of his heart, as to 
render him at lead the equal of any hifto- 
rian of any country. 

%UINTUS CUR TIUS. 

Amongft the hiftorians of the firft clafs, 
we may place Quintus Curtius ; of whofe 
life very little is recorded, but who probably 
wrote in the firft century of our sera under 
the Emperor Vefpafian. He has written 
in a fhort volume, divided into ten books, 
the life of Alexander the Great. Fren- 
fhemius has fupplied very ably, the lofs of 
the two firft and one part of the laft book. 
The ftyle of this writer is very flowery and 
ornamented; but it well agrees with its 
fubjecl:, for he wrote the life of a very 
extraordinary man. Curtius particularly 
excels in his defcription of battles, but in 
his fpeeches the author is generally too 
prominent a figure. The fpeech of the 
Scythians, is however an exception. It is 

always 



524 COMMENTARIES ON 

always read with pleafure, and has always 
been mentioned with praife. 

He has been juftly charged with geo- 
graphical errors, and thefe have been recli- 

- 

fied by Arrian. The accufation of having 
admitted much romance into his hiftory, 
is not corre&ly ftated ; for Alexander does 
not appear to be a lefs fingular character in 
other authors, than in Quintus Curtius. 

The praifes, which he lavifhes on his 
hero, proceed from a congenial fpirit of 
bold entcrprife. Intrepidity and fire are 
with him the fovereign qualities of a man ; 
for he had not fufficient coolnefs of judg- 
ment to enable him to diftinguifh the utility 
refulting frQm caution and from prudence. 
The ftory of the u World's great Victor," 
is perfectly fuited to the genius of the 
hiftorian. They are equally warm, and 
violent, and ram. 

Curtius, however, though an ardent pa-? 
negyrift, is not fo entirely eftranged from 
juftice as to difguife the faults of Alexan-? 
der altogether. After he has raifed him 
above the higheft of his fpecies, he makes 

fome 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 525 

fome retribution to them, by occafionally 
depreffing him beneath the loweft. 

His ftyle has freedom, life, and plea- 
fantry; but is too lofty and declamatory. 
He wants fimplicity, a diftinguifhed excel- 
lence in writing; and notwithstanding 
the elegance of his orations and the fine 
flow of his language, the reader of Quintus 
Curtius will return with redoubled eager- 
nefs to the perufal of Livy. 



526 COMMENTARIES OH 



SECTION XIX. 

Latin Hiftorians tf the fecond Clafs.—Trogus Pompeiut* 
— Juftin.— Florus. — Velleius Fater cuius. — Cornelius 
Nepos. — Suetonius* 

I hese are biographers or abbre viators. 
The three moft diftinguiihed of the firft 
kind are Juftin, Florus, and Paterculus. 

In the reign of Antoninus Pius, about one 
hundred and fifty years after Chrift, Juf- 
tin epitomized the univerfal hiftory of 
Trogus Pompeius. This had contained all 
the great events from the beginning of the 
world to the age of Auguftus ; and as the 
earlieft fpecimen of the mode of writing on 
fo copious a fubjed:, the lofsof the original 
work is much to be regretted. Juftin is 
not a painter of the manners, but a good 
narrator of events. He has however 
fome traits of beauty ; and the portrait of 
Philip of Macedon, and the comparifon ©f 

1 that 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 527 

that prince with his fon Alexander, claim 
and reward our attention. 

Philip, fays Juftin, took more pains 
and had more pleafure in the preparation 
of a battle than in the arrangement of a 
feaft. Money was with him only a finew 
of war. He knew better how to acquire 
riches, than how to preferve them ; and 
living on plunder, was always poor. It 
coft him no more to pardon than to 
deceive. His converfation was fweet 
and alluring. He was prodigal of pro- 
mifes, which he did not keep ; and 
whether he were ferious or gay, he had 
always a defign at the bottom. His con- 
ftant maxim was, to carefs thofe whom 
he hated, to inftigate quarrels between 
thofe who loved him, and feparately to flat- 
ter each party, whom he had alienated from 
the other. He was poflefled of eloquence, 
had a ready apprehenfion, and a graceful 
delivery. He had for his fucceflbr his 
fon Alexander, who had greater virtues and 
greater vices than himfelf. Both triumphed 
over their enemies, although by different 

means. 



528 COMMENTARIES Oti 

a 

means. The one employed open force 
only; the other had recourfe to artifice. 
The one congratulated himfelf, when he 
had deceived his enemies, the other when 
he had conquered them. Philip had more 
policy, Alexander more dignity. The fa- 
ther knew how to diflemble his rage, and 
fometimes to conquer it; the fon in his 
vengeance knew neither delay nor bounds. 
Both loved wine too well ; but drunkennefs, 
which opens the heart, produced different 
effe&s in them. Philip in going from a 
feaft, went to feek for danger and expofed 
himfelf with temerity; Alexander turned 
his rage againft the aflbciates of his rivalry. 
The one often returned from battle, covered 
with w T ounds, received from his enemies ; 
the other rofe from table, defiled with the 
blood of his friends. The father wilhed to 
be loved ; the fon defired only to be fear- 
ed. Both cultivated letters, the former 
through policy, the latter through tafte. 
The one affe&ed more moderation to 
his enemies, the other had in reality more 
clemency and good faith. It was with 
* 5 thefe 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 529 

thefe different qualities, that the father laid 
the foundation of the empire of the world, 
and that the fort had the glory of comple- 
ting the illuftrious achievement. 

The little work of Juftin contains the 
hiftory of two thoufand years. It begins 
with Ninu?, the founder of the Affyrian 
empire ; and the account of thofe early 
periods is much more dilated than the fize 
of the volume would induce us to expect. 

If he approach the beft Roman writers 
in purity and elegance, he is inaccurate as 
a chronologer ; and when he mentions the 
Jews, he is a prejudiced hiftorian. Excel- 
lence of ftyle will not atone for the defect of 
fidelity ; as talents, however diftinguifhed, 
cannot excufe the abfence of virtue. 

FLORUS. 

L. Annseus Julius Florus was born a 
little more than a century after our Sa- 
viour, and compofed an abridgement of the 
Roman hiftory till the time of Auguftus. 
mm He 



$$0 COMMENTARIES ON 

He has the lingular merit of having in- 
cluded in one fmall volume, in four books, 
the annals of feven hundred years, without 
having omitted a fingle important fa£t. 
The confpiracy of Catiline is recounted in 
two pages, and yet nothing eflential is 
omitted. His ftyle is fo florid as to have 
the appearance of poetry in deranged mea- 
fure. He has all the declamation of an 
orator; and when we look for a correct 
recital of the hiftory of the Romans, we 
find a warm panegyric on many of their 
achievements. 

On this account Florus muft be read 
without that confidence, which we repofe in 
many other authors. He is carelefs in chro- 
nology ; and, being defirous of ftating. fuch 
circumftances as ought to have occurred on 
particular occafiofis, he fometimes deviates 
from the fcrupulous accuracy of hiftorical 
truth. 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 53I 

VELLEIUS PATERCULUS. 

Velleius Paterculus lived in the time of 
Tiberius,, was of a refpectable family, and 
ferved feveral campaigns under the emperor. 
He wrote a compendium of the hiftory of 
Greece and Rome, from the earlier! period 
to his own age. He is a ufeful author, and 
not deficient in eafe or elegance of ftyle. 
He is remarkably mild in his cenfures, but 
rnoft unaccountably extravagant in his 
praife of the Csefars. Auguftus is a god ; 
and Sejanus, the fawning and cruel mi- 
nifter of Tiberius, is extolled with en- 
comiums, which are due only to virtue. 
The objection to his partiality is confined 
to the latter part of his work, and is com- 
mon to many hiftorians, whofe prejudices 
or whofe fears djfguife or fupprefs their 
opinions. Paterculus has a happy and 
beautiful brevity of narration, which in a 
frnall compafs contains all the graces of 
ftyle, and is embellifhed with wife maxims 
and ufeful morals. 

m m 2 What- 



52> 2 COMMENTARIES ON 

Whatever other hiftorians have recorded 
will be found in this writer, who poffeffes in 
a fingular degree the merit of perfpicuity. 

CORNELIUS NEPOS. 

Of Cornelius Nepos we have received no 
authentic account, except that he was born 
at Hoftilia, near the banks of the river Po, 
in the reign of Auguftus, and, amongft 
other literary characters, was honoured by 
the Imperial patronage. The work which 
has reached pofterity is his Lives of Illuftn- 
ous Greeks and Romans. The ftyle of it 
difplays the elegance of the age in which 
he lived; and while it contains a fummary 
of their principal adions, it is replete 
with judicious refledions upon them. He 
abounds in tafte, but not in force and 
ftrength. In reporting events, he does not 
enter into the details, which mark the cha- 
raderiftic traits of the adors, and which 
diftinguifh the perfpicacity of the hifto- 
rian. 

Rome had not yet its Plutarch. 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 533 

SUETONIUS. 

Somewhat more than a century after the 
Chriftian sera, G. Tranquillus Suetonius 
was the fecretary of the Emperor Adrian, 
He has left a hiftory of the twelve Csefars, 
and is confidered fcrupuloufly exadt and 
methodical. He omits nothing, which con- 
cerns the perfon whofe life he writes; and is 
a reporter of adtions, but not a painter of 
the manners. He is a pleafant author to 
confult, for he is a detailer of anecdotes. 
In refle&ions he is very fparing, contenting 
himfelf with recounting events without 
feeling or exciting any emotion. The 
qf|ice of a narrator fatisfies his ambition ; 
and from the little intereft he takes refpedt- 
ing the condudt of his heroes, he has at- 
tained the praife of ftridt impartiality. 

The character of the emperors is no 
where more juftly reprefented, but the 
defcription of their vices has been .thought 
Unneceflarily minute. 

M m 3 The 



534 COMMENTARIES ON 

The language of Suetonius is elegant; 
his narration eafy and perfpicuous. 

Nature had been kind to him in her en- 
dowments, and he acknowledged her kind^ 
nefs by the induftry with which he ap* 
plied to his education. 

An acquaintance with thefe minor hit 
torians is expected of the general fcholar. 

Some beauties will pleafe, and fome in- 
formation will inftrucl: him in them all ; 
but after he has confulted them for the 
gratification of his curiofity, or the refrefh- 
ment of his memory as to particular fads, 
he will perceive, that his tafte can alone be 
duly formed, and his knowledge fufficiently 
amplified, by a frequent and attentive per- 
ufal of the three accomplished hiftorians 
of Rome, 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. $$5 



SECTION XX. 

Condition. 

In reviewing the pages of thefe commen- 
taries, whatever defeats I have perceived in. 
the execution of my plan, I am ftill willing 
to flatter myfelf that the fovereign utility 
of claflical learning has not been rendered 
problematical by an inadequate defence. 

It did not form a part of my intention 
to extend my view beyond the works of 
the ancient poets, orators., and hiftorians ; 
much lefs to attempt a delineation of the 
feveral fyftems of philofophy, which reign- 
ed in Athens, But it is impoffible not to 
reflect upon the gardens of the Lyceum, 
where truth and error maintained a divided 
fway, but where learning was foftered in 
the bofom of retirement, and kept facred 
from the invafion of its ancient enemies, 
bufinefs and pleafure. 

On 



J36 COMMENTARIES ON 

On the banks of the Uyffus, an alley of 
olives, or a grove of myrtles, feparated 
fyftems, and ferved as the boundary of the 
empire of Opinion. There the fan&uary 
of Wifdom was never clofed, and the facred 
fire was never extinguifhed. In that happy 
fhade, far from the importunity of vulgar 
cares, Greece formed fo many great men, 
of whom a fingle one might give celebrity 
to a nation. When the youths had learn- 
ed the gymnaftic exercifes, they paffed ftic- 
ceffively under the care of the gramma- 
rians, critics, and geometricians ; and after 
thefe effays, commenced their rural life. 
There they exerted prodigious efforts ; and 
it was almoft as painful to achieve a courfe 
of philofophy, as to accuftom themfelves to 
the hard exercifes of pugilifm. There as 
much emulation was excited as if it were a 
queftion of becoming an Areopagite or a 
demagogue. 

In our own country, even in the heart of 
a city devoted to bufineis, to politics, and 
to pleafure, learning ftill may boaft of 
more than one facred afylum. On the 

ban^ 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. 537 

banks of the Thames and of the Itchen, 
the polifhed language of Athens ftill capti- 
vates its votaries, and a purer philofophy 
than was taught in the Lyceum or the Aca- 
demy ftill refounds from thofe hallowed 
domes, which are wafhed by the ftreams of 
the Ifis and the Cam. May the day be 
far diftant, if it ever be deftined to appear, 
when the hiftorian of our ifle mall have to 
record a fimilar cataftrophe to that, which 
defolated Athens ! When Greece fell un- 
der the Chriftian yoke, Libanius fays that 
he faw whole troops of priefts and monks, 
armed with' hatchets and flambeaux, run- 
ning through the country, burning the 
temples, breaking the ftatues, and leaving 
in their paflage only the fmoking wrecks of 
aihes and of ruins. At the fight of thefc 
fanatics, philofophy abandoned Greece to 
return thither no more. 

Clafiical learning is intimately connect- 
ed with the prefervation of religion and 
of the laws, and thofe who decry its value 
are the perfons moft decidedly hoftile to 

both. 

II While 



538 COMMENTARIES OK 

While the anarchift, by fubtle difparage* 
ment of moral ties, undermines the pillars 
of fociety, the fanatic and the bigot, by 
an outcry againft literary attainments, 
engage in the fame caufe, and are daily 
bringing their engines to the attack: 

Under circumftances of fo ferious a kind, 
and in that leifure for reflection, which is 
afforded by the fufpenfion of the horrors 
of war, the intereft of our country might 
perhaps be confulted by the revival of 
thofe golden days, in which an Oxford 
was at once the pilot of the ftate and the 
tutelary guardian of learning. Foftered 
by the rays of favour, the vigorous plant 
will flourifh, though myriads be envious of 
its growth. While, under its branches, 
eenius ought to find a inciter from the ills 
of life, to the fame fhade grandeur might 
retire for a temporary repofe from the toils 
of pleafure or the tumults of ambition. 
If it be permitted us to cultivate the arts, 
and to enjoy the bleffings of peace ; what 
can better deferve the patronage of flatef- 
men than that knowledge, which ftrengthens 

the 



CLASSICAL LEARNING. $39 

the bands of the community, while it po- 
lifhes and enlarges the minds of its mem- 
bers; which calls forth the brighteft ta- 
lents in an a£Uve difplay of loyalty to a 
free conftitution, and furnilhes them with 
an armour of proof in the defence of focial 
order and of public liberty ? 



THE END. 



Printed by A. Strahan, 
Printers-Street. 



ERRATA. 

Page Line 
22 i read improved 

32 10 after poffefTed himfelf infert of 

44 24 put a period after ear 

45 6 after Demofthenes put a mark of Interrogator. 
94 3 infert inverted commas after obfervaticn 

I04 21 for Aihenceusr^W Athenseus 

152 20 infert inverted commas 

1 53 16 for fhed read fled 

154 8 erafe inverted commas after mt 
177 20 /o/- in the r^ with 

181 28 for racking read raking 

209 7 <z//er difficulties infert a comma 

210 8 for they do r<W it does 

219 14 a/Ver Dionyfius infert of 

220 1 /or euthymemes read enthymemes 
234 21 after expreffions erafe comma 

247 13 for revolts read difgufts 

550 IX for 'God read Gods 

*— 17 for reafiumes read renffumed 

2 5 a 3 f or armor, armor «ai armour, armour 

253 18 y&r throws read threw 

256 15 read Kerodotus 

270 1 for difplay read produce 

294 3 -erafe inverted commas before Mere 

— 10 erafe inverted commas after foes 
300 3 erafe inverted commas before The 

— 6 erafe inverted commas after tone 
302 24 frc/^ that 

3°3 3 f or Amphitrion fw^Amphitryo 

324 21 and 24 /or Hyppolitus read Hippolytus 

325 14 and 25 for Hyppolitus rW Hippolytus 
3^1 5 for fcyon read cion, and for rcot read plant 
«— 21 ftf/f inverted commas before The 

339 5 fir fears read tears 

352 3 e'-afe femicokn after painting 

<— 18 y*or monument rw</ writer 

363 23 for is a fine relic from read forms a fine contrail with 

377 5 f or Helena read Helenus 

40 r 12 for is ran/ are 

409 7 _/or facrifices m^facrificed 

416 J 3 for poets rtW poet 

417 la /jr Thebes rad Thetis. 



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